Let Me Sleep
by Hope Strong
Summary: Jen must decide if she wants to fight for the reality she wants, or if she will loose to the fantasy she owns, while helping the rangers uncover a series of horrible crimes that might not be the work of mutants only. *complete*
1. Substituted

Disclaimer: The Power Rangers Time Force, characters names, distinctive likenesses, and all related indicia belong to BuenaVista Entertainment. Anyone not seen in Power Rangers is mine. That should do it.  
  
Author's note: here I'm assuming Jen and the other have been back for quite some time, about two years. As you will notice, Jen has realized she loves Alex, and wishes to have him back. I don't want to write how that happened, so I'll just assume it already happened, ok? And Alex is still a bit mad at her, he loves her, but the man's got to protect his pride, right? ; ) Very Special thanks to Cmar, for being my Beta Reader, you are the best, girl! (  
  
Let Me Sleep.  
  
By: Shirley Chong.  
  
"Who's that?!" Jen asked, pointing at a voluptuous blonde woman, who was sitting with Alex in the Time Force cafeteria, holding his hand.  
  
"Oh, that's Brynn," Katie said with a smile. "You know, Alex's new girlfriend," she added, looking at Jen's face with a playful gleam in her green eyes.  
  
"It's impossible that woman is Alex's girlfriend," Jen said, not taking her eyes off Brynn. Katie sensed a little hostility in her friend's voice.  
  
"Why's that?" Katie asked with a fake innocent tone of voice, taking a sip of her drink. The smile on her face was playful; unless she was very much mistaken Jen was jealous.  
  
"She's blonde," Jen said, her face showing what seemed to be disgust.  
  
"And?" Katie asked; she was enjoying Jen's face.  
  
"Alex is not into blondes. And look at her, she has 'stupid' written all over her, with that bimbo, Barbie doll body. She's not dating Alex," Jen said matter-of-factly, looking at Katie.  
  
"She's not? Are we sure?" Katie insisted. Jen finally looked at her.  
  
"Of course. I know Alex, he would never date--" she shut up suddenly, her lower lip trembling. Alex was kissing that woman as if he wanted to suck her internal organs through her mouth. She found herself thinking he had never kissed her like that, so deeply and lustily, and publicly. Katie turned around and saw the scene with an amazed expression. She turned to see Jen and saw her friend's eyes were tearful.  
  
"Jen?" Katie asked, no longer playfully, touching her friend's wrist across the table. Jen, who had been staring at the couple as if hypnotized, gave a start at the touch, and looked at her.  
  
"Yes?"  
  
"Are you alright?"  
  
"I'm fine," she answered. "I'm not jealous at all," It was an obvious lie, her voice was broken, but her expression was dignified. She got up shaking her head slightly, as if trying to shake the image of Alex making out with that woman. "I'm late for my workout. I'll see you later," she said and walked away. Katie looked at her, puzzled.  
  
*********  
  
Alex had a new girlfriend.  
  
It hit her like a boulder, right across the cheek.  
  
He had replaced her. With a blonde big-breasted woman.  
  
She entered the Time Force gym locker-room and changed her clothes, her eyes producing more tears than she could hold back. She let some of them slip down her cheeks, but wiped them off fast.  
  
She exited the locker room and walked towards a punching bag. She focused on it and started beating it with rage; honest, pure, straight from the heart rage, flamed by regret and pain. When she punched she saw the people she blamed for her misery: Alex, Wes and, of course, herself.  
  
She was especially hard on herself.  
  
She didn't know for how long she punched and kicked, but she didn't stop until she collapsed to her knees, breathing heavily, her eyes tearful again. There was no one there to put a hand on her shoulder, to ask her if she was alright.  
  
She was all alone.  
  
Jen got up and walked to the showers, her body felt as if it was about to collapse. She undressed and started a shower, watching the water fall and hearing it echoing on the tiles for a little before getting into it. While she was showering she heard the locker room door open, somebody else was there. She tried not to sob; she didn't want to be asked any questions.  
  
She wiped her face and stepped out of the shower, the silence making her believe she was alone. To her surprise, she wasn't, and the other person in the locker room was no other than Alex's new girlfriend, Brynn.  
  
"Oh, hi," Jen said with a fake happy tone. "I thought I was alone." Brynn looked at her for a few seconds.  
  
"You are Alex's ex-girlfriend, right?" she asked. Jen nodded, busying herself with her clothes, trying to avoid Brynn's eyes. "I saw your picture in his apartment the other day."  
  
"He still has my picture in his apartment?" Jen asked. Brynn nodded.  
  
"He asked me to understand, saying that you two had a close relationship, that you almost got married. He asked me not to be angry at him for admiring you, because he was proud of you and I agreed," Brynn said. Jen looked at her.  
  
"You agreed?" she repeated in disbelief. Brynn shrugged.  
  
"He's so handsome and amazing I really don't mind," she explained, smiling at Jen, who smiled back. She lowered her gaze, she wanted to end that conversation as quickly as possible, but Brynn seemed eager to talk to her.  
  
"How did you two meet?" Jen asked. It was an obvious, easy to deal with question.  
  
"We met during a lunch break. I was eating a couple of cheese sandwiches in the diner across the street from the evidence lab, and next thing I know, Alexander Drake himself is sitting next to me, asking me for my name. I was so honored!" Brynn answered, her eyes gleaming, but looking in the wrong direction. Jen smiled politely. Brynn was lying, but it didn't seem right to point it out. Maybe if she stayed friends with Brynn she could find out how things were going between them.  
  
"You'll have to make up a more romantic story, that one is pretty lame," she joked. Brynn giggled. Her laugh suited her very well, as far as Jen was concerned. Brynn sounded like Elmo, and that suited her Barbie doll general look perfectly. However, there was something wrong with Brynn. She gave innocent looks in every direction, but her 'aura' (Jen didn't know any other word that fit) proved her surface wasn't genuine. As if she was hiding something, and was happy to be getting away with it.  
  
"So, are you two serious?" Jen asked. It was another obvious question. She saw Brynn's eyes gleam with triumph, as if she had just asked the right question.  
  
"We are not 'meet my parents' serious, but we are steady," she said in a normal voice. The sides of her mouth twitched, as if she was suppressing a smile. Jen didn't like it, but gave a forced smile. "Can I ask you something?" Brynn said. Jen nodded, her fake smile covering her sudden annoyance towards that Barbie doll/Elmo crossover. She had the feeling Brynn was about to break something big over her head. "Was he that good in bed when he was with you?" she asked, finally letting a cruel smile spread across her face. Jen lowered her face, fighting back tears of anger and sudden pain. She tied her shoes tightly, just to avoid Brynn's stare. She finished getting dressed, Brynn still looking at her with her cruel smile.  
  
//So you are not just blonde and stupid, you are also cruel//, Jen thought.  
  
"We never.you know.did it," she admitted, looking at Brynn's face while she walked towards the door. Brynn's smile grew bigger at that.  
  
"Really? Why was that?" she asked. Jen looked at her angrily.  
  
"Because he did plan to marry me," she concluded and walked away.  
  
So Alex had slept with Brynn. She thought it was possible to believe she wasn't lying about that. He had never, not ever, touched her with passion, with lust. He had touched her and kissed her with love, and had said beautiful, loving things in her ear, but he had never talked dirty to her. He had never acted as if he wanted her sexually.  
  
But she had wanted him. She had dreamt about him every night, as she was doing now. Dreams where Alex made her feel things she had never felt before. She had dreamt about him more often than she cared to admit while they were together; more often than she wanted while she was in the past, and way too often now she was back, and understanding what had happened to her.  
  
She hadn't loved Wes. She had never loved Wes. She loved Alex, she had always and she always would.  
  
But she had lost him, and now Alex treated her with a coldness that was painful. His cold shoulders, his angry eyes and the casual humiliation he put her through hurt as if he kept stabbing her with a red hot knife.  
  
The only thing that had hurt more than that was the kiss. He had kissed that woman where she could see them, knowing that he was breaking her will and her heart. He had had to know, it had had to be intentional.  
  
She headed for her apartment, another torture place.  
  
Her apartment building was right next to Alex's. Their apartments were on the same floor, both had floor to ceiling windows in both apartments, her bedroom window facing his bedroom window. It was torture, he walked around half naked, showing her what she was missing and showing her what she wasn't wrapping her arms around.  
  
When she got home, she made herself some tea; the tears had finally stopped. She went to her bedroom and the cup fell from her hands at the sight that greeted her. It shattered, but Jen didn't notice.  
  
Alex was in his bedroom, he was kissing Brynn's body the way Jen had always dreamt he would kiss hers. Alex's curtains weren't thick, and the bedroom light was on. She could see their silhouettes through the curtains. And then, her imagination started playing with her, she could hear their words, whispered into each other's ears.  
  
//Alex, like that--//  
  
//You like it?//  
  
//Yes! Yes, I do!!//  
  
Jen ran to her window and closed the curtains, falling to her knees in her misery. She punched the floor with her clenched fist, feeling anger, deception, misery and impotence, all at once.  
  
"No!" she yelled, hitting the floor again. "No! No, no, no, no." Her angry cries turned into whimpers, as if she was begging someone to tell her it wasn't true. She was begging no one specifically (God? Perhaps) that Alex wasn't in his bedroom making love to his new girlfriend. She was just begging. Hopelessly. "Please, no," she begged again. "Not that, not there, not where I can see them. Not her. Not her! ME!" she yelled, wrapping her arms around herself. "Me, me, oh, please, love me, Alex. Love me! I'll do anything, anything," she begged, behind the curtains where she couldn't be seen, or heard.  
  
Alex threw a quick glance towards the window. He suddenly had the thought that Jen was jealous (and miserable, but he obviated that part), he smirked and kissed Brynn some more, even if Jen wasn't seeing it; this girl deserved a prize for her talent.  
  
Jen crawled to her bed and looked for her little treasure under it. One of Alex's shirts that she had managed to keep, with his smell and his faint presence. She pressed it tight against her trembling chest as she cried. She caressed it with her cheek, lovingly.  
  
"I love you, Alex." she whispered, half asleep.  
  
Lying on her bed, she cried herself to sleep.  
  
It was that night she discovered she could do something most humans couldn't: she could control her subconscious, and therefore, her dreams.  
  
To be continued. 


	2. Late Apology

Chapter 2:  
  
"I love you, Jen," Alex whispered softly as he caressed Jen's body. She looked at him in the eyes.  
  
"I love you too, baby," she answered. She buried herself in his arms, and sighed. She was happy there, together with Alex.  
  
An alarm rang somewhere.  
  
Jen's eyes opened slowly, and Alex and the room they had been in disappeared. "It was just a dream," she told herself, as a form of morning salutation. "But it felt so real," she added.  
  
She got out of bed, and walked towards her bathroom. She washed her face and brushed her teeth. She had to get dressed quickly, the last thing she needed that day was being told off by Alex for being late.  
  
As she got dressed, she thought about her dream. She hadn't known it was a dream while she was asleep. But now, fully awake, she could remember it, details included. And awake she realized everything she wanted had happened, not like before, where dreams turned into nightmares, where Alex hurt her and left her alone, making her pay for what she had done.  
  
No. This one had been sweet from the very beginning, and to the very end. It hadn't been a wet dream. It had been a sweet dream, where she and Alex walked by the beach, and sat down, hugging and kissing tenderly. He had whispered the right words in her ear, and she had been happy.  
  
She could remember every little detail. That wasn't normal, not for most humans; the process of forgetting in the morning was backwards in her.  
  
Initially, she had just the faint idea of dreaming about Alex.  
  
Then she had started to remember some things about her dreams, the most important moments, and the amount of things she could remember had increased until, finally, she was able to remember every word, every action, and every /color/.  
  
People didn't dream in color. She did.  
  
And her dreams felt real, she could swear Alex had been there, wrapping his arms around her. She could feel his breath in her ear when he whispered words into it.  
  
She was a bit scared, because she didn't know what was wrong with her. Maybe it was nothing, maybe it was really serious. That possibility didn't scare her as much as not knowing what was going on in her mind.  
  
She ran out of her apartment and got on her motorcycle. She drove to Time Force, focusing now on her work, and on making Alex proud of being her tutor. Brynn had mentioned Alex was proud of her, but maybe she was lying.  
  
***********************  
  
Alex walked towards Jen's office. He knocked on the glass door, and she looked up, smiling faintly at his presence.  
  
"What have you been thinking about?" he asked, with no specific tone of voice. Jen's first thought was that she had done something wrong.  
  
"Why do you ask?" she asked back, a little fearful. //Please not another complaint, please; I've done my best, my very best,// she thought.  
  
"You've been looking distracted all day," he commented. He was being strangely sweet; it had been a while since he had last treated her like that.  
  
He looked at her, Brynn had been right. She was miserable for some reason, and Alex had the feeling it was beyond Wes. Way beyond him.  
  
"It's just that this case is complicated, and I want to make sure I get all the details right. I don't want to miss anything," she answered, throwing swift, sideways glances at him, while the rest of the time she stared at her monitor.  
  
"What are you checking out?" he asked, she suddenly turned incredibly nervous.  
  
"Uh-uh, nothing," she said lamely. Alex raised his eyebrows and she shook her head, "I mean, it's nothing related to the case for now, we are stuck," she said.  
  
Alex's eyebrows returned to their normal position, but he might as well have started yelling about just how useless she was. She straightened in her chair and said, rather proudly, "I have followed a couple of leads, and gotten in touch with my informants, but I haven't found anything, only dead ends." Alex shrugged.  
  
"It'll come along," he said simply. Jen stared at him, with an expression on her face that resembled a bunny struck by the lights of a car. That usually was the part were Alex told her to work harder. This time, Alex leaned forward. "Jen, I need to talk to you, are you free right now? Do you think we could go and grab a coffee?" he asked softly as she stared.  
  
She felt like a misfit girl, who was being asked out by the most popular boy in the high school. "Mm, sure," she said after a few seconds. Alex looked alarmed. She closed the file she was watching and stood up, slowly, clumsily.  
  
"Hey, you sure you are ok?" he asked, wrapping a comforting arm around her shoulders. She looked at him, her eyes shiny. She nodded. Alex pursed his lips softly. //You've done it now, Alexander, he thought. The girl is scared of me, and looks like she's on the verge of tears all the time. I've ruined everything I helped her build, and I have the feeling she won't believe my words.//  
  
******  
  
They got to the coffee shop and sat down on a small table in a corner.  
  
"Jen, I want to talk to you," he started. She nodded as if she had a knot in her throat. Her back was strangely stiff. The general impression she gave was that of holding back tears, and that was precisely what she was doing.  
  
"If this is about Brynn, I've already met her. She looks very nice and I am happy for you both," she said all of it fast, as if fearing her voice would break if she didn't. Alex caressed her fingers with his. They were strangely thin and cold. He also noticed her hand, even while resting on the table, was trembling.  
  
The waitress came over to take their order. He ordered a cappuccino; he had a need for sugar. She ordered coffee with milk. The waitress left.  
  
"Jen, that's not the reason I brought you here," he told her. She looked away from him; she couldn't stand to look at him anymore. She took a deep breath.  
  
"You want me to stay away from you, I know that you are with Brynn and--" He raised a hand to her lips; she shut up, looking at him in the eyes.  
  
"No, that's not it," he said, he was beginning to get really scared. Something was wrong with Jen, and he had the feeling it was all his fault. "Jen, all I want is to apologize for the way I've been treating you." Now there were definitely tears in Jen's eyes. Her expression told she had been waiting long for those words.  
  
"What?" she asked softly.  
  
"I'm sorry," he repeated. She started shaking her head, first softly, but as he continued to talk she shook it harder, as if denying what she was hearing. "I've been treating you very badly, and I'm sorry, I didn't have the right to make you feel small, to humiliate you, I'm really sorry--" his voiced trailed off when he saw the tears running down her cheeks as she shook her head. "Jen, what the hell is wrong with you?" he asked.  
  
She couldn't answer. Her sobs were long and strong. She was trying to fight them back, but they were too powerful. She broke into tears at last. Alex ran to her from across the table, and knelt in front of her, both of his hands on her knees, as she covered her face with her hands. Alex raised his hands to her arms and caressed them softly; she lowered her hands and looked at his face, so full of concern and, yes, pain.  
  
"Jen..." He whispered her name softly and drew himself upward, holding her tightly. She cried on his chest, sobbing against his body, wrapping her slim arms around his waist.  
  
People were starting to stare, but Alex didn't care. He soothed Jen softly, with whispered words and caresses on her back. He looked around helplessly, and then down at Jen.  
  
//I wonder just how deep her pain is, he wondered. I wonder if this is all my fault.//  
  
"It's not your fault," she said between sobs. Alex looked down at her questioningly.  
  
"What was that?" he asked.  
  
"That's what you just said, that this was all your fault. I'm telling you it's not," she explained, now that the sobs had subsided.  
  
"No, Jennifer, that's what I just THOUGHT," he told her.  
  
To be continued 


	3. New Power

Chapter 3:  
  
Jen was sitting by her bedroom window. Brynn was alone in Alex's apartment; she was working on his computer.  
  
Jen stared. She had a feeling of unease. Somewhere in her mind she feared Alex would come back from work and find her doing what she was doing. But that didn't make any sense, because she wasn't doing anything wrong, and yet there was the feeling. Suddenly, a clearer thought passed through her mind: //I must copy all the files before Alex comes home.//  
  
"What files?" she asked no one.  
  
//The files I'm going to sell to the mutants.//  
  
"Sell to the mutants? I'm losing my mind, why am I thinking about selling files to the mutants?" she asked her ghostly reflection on the window. Then there was another thought. As clear as if she was hearing someone say it, the voice belonged to her next door neighbor.  
  
//I have to buy some more veggies, we are out.//  
  
Then she heard another voice, and another, and yet another one; as if her entire building was inside her head.  
  
//I have to get to the gym--// //I hope Albert likes red wine--// //God, she's so ugly!// //My breasts are too small--// //This is the worst sex I've ever had---//  
  
The thoughts had no connection between them, because they came from different people.  
  
Jen repeated the words in her head: //The thoughts CAME from different people.//  
  
She was picking up other people's thoughts, just like she had picked up Alex's back in the coffee shop.  
  
And the first weird thought she had picked up came from no other than Brynn. So Barbie Doll was the one fearing Alex might come home and find her copying the files she was going to sell to the mutants. Jen stared at her from across the way. "God, if only I could turn that computer off before she's done," she whispered angrily.  
  
Across the street Brynn stood up from the chair suddenly. She began pushing all the buttons in the computer. It had turned off. She pressed another button and sat down. Jen picked up her thoughts.  
  
//Useless piece of junk! I wonder why he hasn't bought a better one, a faster one, he can afford it. If only he wasn't so lost thinking about Jen he would realize how cheap he is--//  
  
"Cheap?" Jen repeated softly. "Alex is not cheap, you slut!" she said angrily staring at her. "And you ain't copying any god dammed files from Alex's computer, because that computer is going to turn off and you won't be able to turn it on again!" she proclaimed. And so it happened.  
  
****  
  
She had the gene active.  
  
Both her mother and her father had been carriers, and since that gene wasn't part of the normal procedure, they hadn't spotted it.  
  
She smiled seeing that little piece of her DNA chain shining at her from the computer screen.  
  
"This is great," she said softly, a smile across her face.  
  
*****  
  
"Let's go to the beach," Jen told Alex. Their surrounding immediately turned into a beach, and their clothes changed.  
  
"Nah!" he complained, "I'm bored of the beach! Let's try something else, something more romantic, like a cabin, in the mountains, with a fire place." His voice was sexy. She smiled, and the cabin appeared around them, she looked at him and he smiled back. They kissed deeply.  
  
"Are you happy here with me?" he asked.  
  
"So much I don't ever want to wake up" she answered.  
  
"Then don't ever wake up, and stay here with me, forever," he asked, kissing her neck softly.  
  
"If only I could," she answered sadly. "If I could I would, I don't want to go back there, where it's hard and painful, I want to stay here with you, and your love," she pleaded. His kisses lowered a little, towards her breasts. "Alex, I think it's time for me to go back to work," she said.  
  
"Already?" he pouted. She smiled at his face "You just got here!"  
  
"I only get a short recess, I'm sorry, I have to go," she told him.  
  
"I'll be waiting for you, right here, ok?" he said. She smiled and gave him one last kiss.  
  
And then, she woke up. And headed back to her office from the resting quarters.  
  
*******  
  
That night, Jen rode her motorcycle across the town, listening to so many thoughts at once she felt dizzy.  
  
Some of them were so innocent, others weren't.  
  
She had stopped to buy a drink, and what the barman was thinking about her had made her throw her drink at his face and walk out of there, not without hearing what all the other men present were thinking of her too.  
  
She toured the city, the lights were bright. Not too many people on the streets, because it was Wednesday. She thought of so many things, she heard so many people and moved so many small objects all over town, up in buildings, down in the subway, in other cars. She was so fascinated by the new world she had just unlocked for herself, she wasn't really paying attention to her immediate surroundings.  
  
She was distractedly humming a tune along with a music player somewhere above her, when she heard a horn. She turned her head, but the truck was on her before she could do anything about it.  
  
To be continued. 


	4. Dream and Nightmare

Chapter 4  
  
"Do you, Alexander, take this woman as your legitimate wife, to honor her, love her and respect her as long as you both shall live?" the judge asked.  
  
"I do," Alex answered, his eyes bright.  
  
"And do you, Jennifer, take this man as your legitimate husband, to love him, honor him and respect him as long as you both shall live?"  
  
"Oh, you bet I do!" she answered looking at him with a bright smile.  
  
"Then I pronounce you husband and wife. You may kiss your bride," the judge said. And Alex did.  
  
*******  
  
"Is she going to be ok?" Katie asked.  
  
"They don't know yet," Lucas answered gloomily. Katie ran her hands through her hair, her expression showing her anger and impotence.  
  
"I thought she had bought a car so she didn't have to ride that infernal bike anymore!" she exclaimed.  
  
"Me too," said a voice behind her. They all turned to see who it was.  
  
It was Alex.  
  
"Alex," Trip said softly.  
  
"Have they told you anything yet?" he asked, looking around, his face dead serious. Lucas walked to him and pushed him on the shoulders.  
  
"What do you care?" he asked. Alex ignored his pushing, and looked at Katie from over Lucas's shoulder. "What do you want here?" Lucas asked, pushing him again.  
  
"Certainly not a fight," Alex answered looking straight into Lucas's eyes. That seemed to cool Lucas down. "Do I need to repeat the question?"  
  
"They said they'll do everything they can for her," Lucas answered. "She's in surgery right now," he added.  
  
"So they said. What about the truck driver?" Alex asked without curiosity.  
  
"He called the ambulance, but he didn't come to the hospital. However, Time Force was there already, I think they took his information," Katie answered.  
  
"Let me know if anything changes, please," Alex told them, and walked out of the emergency room as quietly as he had walked in.  
  
"Now, what's the deal with him?" Katie asked.  
  
"He's scared of losing Jen forever," Trip said, his back turned to the other two.  
  
"Why?" Lucas asked, his disbelief displayed in his voice.  
  
"Because he loves her," Trip said, turning to them.  
  
His gem was shining brightly.  
  
**** Alex called Time Force central on his cell phone.  
  
"Time Force, what can I do for you?" said a woman on the other end, Alex had the hunch she was either a robot or a computer.  
  
"This is Colonel Alexander Drake, I want a communication line to road incidents," he said.  
  
"Hold on, please," the voice said. Music started. It was intended to be cheerful, but was really annoying, like the music they played in carousels. A series of high piano notes, with absolute no esthetics, as if played by a bored (or drunk) pianist.  
  
"Sergeant Samorano," said a woman on the other side. This one sounded alive, "Road incidents," she continued her introduction.  
  
"This is Colonel Alexander Drake," he said. He stopped for a little, to give the sergeant the time to calm her nervousness. It seemed like the entire Time Force was scared of him, he found it didn't bother him, as long as they obeyed. "I need information about a crash, truck against motorcycle, that happened tonight." He heard himself and his voice was rough. He mentally noted himself to change his tone of voice, he was talking to her as if she was a dog and he had to state his authority through his voice.  
  
"Err--, would you wait a second?" the sergeant asked.  
  
"More than one, but not too many," Alex answered. His voice sweetened. A trick learned long ago, made perfect with a lot of practice. Now that he really didn't need to kiss anybody's butt he seemed to be using it less and less.  
  
"Ok, I have it here, apparently a Time Force officer was involved, her name is Jennifer Scotts and she was off duty. Is that the one you are looking for?" The sergeant asked. "Yes, Jennifer Scotts is my protégée and she's one of my direct subordinates. Can you tell me the information about the truck that crashed into her?"  
  
"Sure, the truck belonged to a cargo company, and his route was towards the harbor. The driver claims he didn't see the captain coming, and only heard the thump, so he stepped on the brake and got out of his truck, that's when he saw her, and called the emergency number. When we got there he was about to leave, something very stupid of him, trying to run." "Indeed," said Alex seriously. "Is he in custody?"  
  
"No, we couldn't prove he was running or that it was intentional, so we couldn't take him into custody," the sergeant answered. Alex's eyes shone, the man wasn't under arrest. They shone briefly, but the sergeant couldn't see it.  
  
"I want his name and address," he said. He sensed an: I'm sorry but that's classified information answer coming, so he added, with the dog trainer voice, "Now."  
  
******  
  
Stan Berger was sitting in the Universal Transportation cargo company driver's lobby drinking a cup of coffee. His co-worker Chris was listening to each word.  
  
"And then there she was, out of nowhere, not seeing where she was going. oh, God!" he moaned with regret, "I think she's pretty bad." Chris patted his friend's shoulder.  
  
"She IS," said a voice by the door. The drivers turned around, it was the famous Alexander Drake.  
  
"Hey, aren't you Alexander Drake, the red Ran--" asked Stan but his voice got caught in his throat when Alex grabbed him by the jacket with two powerful fists, that rested very close to his face.  
  
"Yes, I am, and the girl you ran into is my protégé, which means if she dies, you are going to pay, you hear me? If Jennifer Scotts dies, you are going to jail for murder for the rest of your life, and I will make SURE myself that the rest of your life isn't pleasant," he told the truck driver, who was intimidated by Alex's rage (and fame). Alex let go of the man and stared at Stan. He seemed to be waiting for more words from Alex, Probably a: 'if you tell someone about this' but Alex didn't say it.  
  
He had better things to worry about than a cry-baby truck driver. *******  
  
Jen was having the time of her life. The party was beautiful, the music was great.  
  
Alex and she had danced, and now they were sitting at the main table, with Alex's parents and her friends, eating dinner. After that was the cake, then she would throw the bouquet and then they'll leave. At last they'll have their honeymoon.  
  
"Enjoying dinner?" Alex's mother asked.  
  
"It's delicious, Mrs. Drake, thank you so much for helping me choose it," Jen answered. Alex looked at her with a smile.  
  
"I propose a toast," said Alex's father. "To Alex and Jen, and their new life together." He raised his glass. Everybody else imitated him.  
  
"To Alex and Jen!" they all said. Jen and Alex smiled brightly and then kissed. Everybody applauded. Alex rubbed his nose against Jen's, their foreheads pressed against each other, in a gesture of pure love and happiness.  
  
"Are you enjoying this?" Alex asked.  
  
"So very much! And the best thing is that I don't have to wake up for a while, so I can enjoy it completely," she answered.  
  
"Are we staying together this time?" he asked.  
  
"Yes, we are," she answered. She was happy there, and she wasn't willing to wake up.  
  
Not ever.  
  
********  
  
One week after the accident. Jen was still unconscious.  
  
Alex, Lucas, Katie and Trip were by her side day and night, but she didn't react. That day, however, the doctor walked to them, his face puzzled.  
  
"Well, we do have a strange situation here," he said.  
  
"What do you mean?" Katie asked immediately. Alex looked at the doctor, his face almost angry. He was so tired of lies and soothing words.  
  
"Jennifer's body is in perfect health. She should be awake by now, but she's not," the doctor said.  
  
"And that means?" Alex asked, decided not to let the doctor tiptoe around them anymore.  
  
"That she's not in a coma, but in a deep sleep. She's physiologically free to wake up and walk out that door whenever she wants," the doctor said. "Her sleep is too deep, but we have a drug that can bring her back, if you want us to use it, just say so." The doctor looked at them. Alex shook his head 'no' and the others didn't give any opinion. They had all been very nice to him after that first night. "Well, if you change your mind," Alex nodded he understood and the doctor left.  
  
When the doctor was gone, Alex looked at Trip.  
  
"Can you get in her mind and bring her back, without the drug?" he asked. Trip nodded.  
  
"Yes, I can," he assured him. Alex gave him a smile; it was a weird one, as if his face had forgotten how to do it.  
  
"Get to it, then," he ordered, patting Trip on the shoulder softly.  
  
Trip entered the room where Jen lay. He sat next to her and took her hand. He focused with all his might, and soon found himself in New Argentums City's park.  
  
He didn't understand, Jen's subconscious should be a mess of non-connected ideas, it should look like a corridor, dark and confusing, filled with short images that made no sense to him. He had been in human's subconscious minds before; he knew what they looked like.  
  
However, there he was. Standing in the city park, there were other people, and trees, even dogs and birds. He looked around, and started to walk. He was now more certain than ever that he had to find Jen quickly, before she got trapped in her own mind.  
  
******  
  
Jen and Alex were sitting under a tree, eating their lunch. This was their first picnic since they got married, and they were very excited about it. Alex caressed her hair and she caressed his. He had a goatee, he looked gorgeous with it. They kissed deeply, and then stared into each other's eyes.  
  
Suddenly, as if she had sensed something, Jen stood up and looked around. "Someone's here," she said, still looking around for the intruder. She was mad; she knew the intruder was there to take her back; and she didn't want to go.  
  
"Over there, it's Trip," Alex said, pointing at the green haired man.  
  
"Jen!" Trip said, going to her. Alex wrapped his arms around Jen's waist and she held his hand tightly.  
  
"Don't worry, baby, I'm not going anywhere," she told him. He kissed her cheek from behind, as Trip approached them.  
  
"Good to see you are okay," Trip said when he got to her. "Come on, you'll wake up if you follow me," he told her.  
  
"I'm not going," she said. Trip looked at her, worried.  
  
"What do you mean you are not coming?" he asked. "You HAVE to come with me," he insisted.  
  
"I said I'm not going. I'm staying here, with Alex," she answered forcefully, her face showing her anger. Trip noticed the dogs had started barking at him, and the people in the background were now fighting each other and yelling, her illusion was reflecting her anger.  
  
"Jen, this is all a dream--"  
  
"Just how STUPID do you think I am?!" she yelled at him, "I KNOW this is a dream, and I'm not waking up, ever again," she told him.  
  
"You know this is a dream?" Trip asked. "B-b-but, how do you know that?" he asked.  
  
"The same way you know," she told him.  
  
Trip looked at Jen's hand. She had a wedding band. Suddenly he understood the situation, she was married to Alex, and they were happy together.  
  
"You two are married?" he asked. Jen nodded.  
  
"If you came here to bring me back, now you know I'm not going," she said. "Now, get out."  
  
"How are you controlling your environment? Humans can't control their subconscious mind," Trip asked.  
  
"This human can," she said. "Get OUT!" she ordered again. The skies were grey now, as if a storm was coming.  
  
"Jen, how are you doing this?" he asked again. Suddenly it dawned on him. "You have to come with me, quick," he urged.  
  
"GET OUT!" she yelled, and a bolt of lightning hit Trip. He was pushed out of Jen's mind. He could feel the dreamer's vertigo, the feeling of falling into nothingness. Startled he opened his eyes and looked around. Alex, Lucas and Katie were there, waiting for him (and Jen) to come back.  
  
"What happened?" Alex asked. "Why is she still asleep?"  
  
"She's not coming back," Trip said softly.  
  
"What do you mean she's not coming back?" Katie asked, grasping Trip's shoulders.  
  
"She has control over her subconscious mind," Trip said. "She's living in a dream that suits all of her desires; she doesn't want to come back to reality."  
  
"That's not possible," Alex said.  
  
"It is," Trip said. Alex looked at him angrily.  
  
"It's NOT POSSIBLE!" he yelled at Trip, Katie grabbed him, before he could get to the green haired young man.  
  
"It's true," Trip insisted. "She has so much control over it, she was able to kick me out of her mind." Alex looked at him, his face on the verge of tears.  
  
"No way, not her." he whispered. Then he grabbed Jen's hand and pressed it against his cheek, now crossed by a trail of tears. "She has to come back, I can't lose her," he said, looked at Jen's sleeping face.  
  
"Alex, you need to know something," Trip said.  
  
"What?" Alex asked distractedly.  
  
"In her dream," Trip began, "Jen's married to you, and you are both very happy together." Alex looked at him and then back at Jen.  
  
"We have to bring her back," Alex said.  
  
"What's wrong with Jen? Why did you say 'not her'?" Katie asked.  
  
"What if she can control her dreams? She was always a bit of a controller," Lucas commented. Trip and Alex looked at them.  
  
"Some people in Jen's condition (specially the depressed ones) go through what Jen's going. They go to sleep, and they sleep on and on. They have the power to control exactly for how long they can sleep, as long as their bodies remain healthy," Alex explained. "She doesn't have to wake up if she doesn't want to." His face was covered with his tears, his voice sad.  
  
"What's Jen's condition?" Katie asked, looking at Trip.  
  
His words came out in a barely audible whisper, but he might as well have yelled them. "She's a psychic."  
  
Katie covered her mouth with her hands, and Lucas punched the wall.  
  
Alex just looked at Jen.  
  
And Jen slept on.  
  
To be continued. 


	5. Waking Up

Chapter 5  
  
"Are you going back to that clinic?" Brynn asked angrily.  
  
"Hospital, and yes, I'm going back," Alex answered annoyed.  
  
"I want to state clearly that when I agreed you should still have some memories of Jen I didn't agree with you going all day to sit next to her," Brynn yelled. Alex looked at her, he was so sick of her now.  
  
"Brynn, honey," he said. "Shut up." He walked out of the room.  
  
"Where the hell do you think you're going?" she yelled to his back. "I'm not done talking to you, Alexander." Alex turned around.  
  
"Alex. Nobody but my mother calls me Alexander," he told her and left the apartment.  
  
When he was gone, Brynn sat on the bed. She started to tangle her hands nervously. "What the hell do you think you are doing?" said a male voice somewhere in the room. More than a voice it was a growl, especially because it came from a near animal.  
  
"W-w-what do you mean?" she stammered. The monster laughed softly, unhappily.  
  
"You know what I mean," he said. Brynn swallowed hard. "Alexander Drake is not your boyfriend. He's your source, and if you don't make this relationship last you won't be able to bring us more information."  
  
"I know," Brynn said. "But if I don't do this, he will think I don't care about him and Jen, and that might be as dangerous as this, if not more," she explained, her voice as steady she could get it.  
  
"So, this is all part of a plan?" the monster asked.  
  
"Of course it is," she said.  
  
"You better don't get him to break up with you; the mistress won't be pleased with that," he growled.  
  
"I know, it won't happen, I promise," she said.  
  
"I'll take your word for it," the monster said, and he said no more.  
  
Bryn got up; it was time for plan B. ******  
  
"What are you doing back in here?" Jen asked Trip. He had gotten back inside of her mind, by the insistence of both Katie and Lucas. This time they were in a warehouse, dark and cold.  
  
"Jen, you have to come back with me," he said. Jen hit him again with the wooden pole. IT seemed she had been hitting him for hours now, and still he wouldn't leave.  
  
"Why should I do that?" she asked him.  
  
"Many reasons." He focused and healed the blow she had given him. Good thing we're in her mind and not reality. "Alex, he wants you back, awake," he started.  
  
"I'm with Alex here, why would I trade that for an Alex who doesn't love me? Who isn't married with me?" she asked.  
  
"He does love you!" Trip exclaimed. "And Lucas, and Katie and myself; we all want you back, we love you too." Jen lowered her gaze, and looked away.  
  
"I love you guys too," she said.  
  
Trip got up from the floor where he had been lying and put a hand on her shoulder. "I know you are happy here, Jen, but this can't last too long," he told her. She looked at him, her eyes tearful. "If you don't wake up and eat, your body will get sick, and you'll die." His voice was soft, as if he was talking to a small girl, and that was what Jen looked like, crouched in a ball like she was now. "And if you die, you won't be able to be with Alex, not here, nor in reality," he explained.  
  
Jen looked at him with pleading eyes, he knew she was pleading him for more time, but he just couldn't give it. She sat there, not looking at Trip's face for a few seconds. No matter how much she wanted to stay, or if what Trip was saying about the real Alex was true or not. He had a point; she might die if she didn't wake up. She decided to go, but only for a little while, enough to eat and take a shower or something. Then she would be back.  
  
"At least let me say goodbye," she begged. Trip nodded.  
  
Alex appeared in the warehouse door; Jen got up and ran to meet him. "He convinced you," Alex said sadly. Jen caressed the side of his face.  
  
"I'll come back every night," she promised. They kissed.  
  
"I'll be waiting for you," he promised back.  
  
Trip tried not to listen. It was as painful as watching Jen say goodbye to Wes two years ago, her eyes were as filled with love and tears as they had been back on that beach. Suddenly, Trip noticed his environment had changed. Jen had taken the scene somewhere where she felt comfortable saying goodbye to Alex. The prison parking lot, where he had 'died' three years ago. The first time they had said goodbye, they had said it there.  
  
"I love you," she said. Alex hugged her tightly. "Thank you so much for making me so happy," she told him, her face showing the same expression it had when she had said goodbye to Wes, the same expression of utter pain she had when she thought Alex had been dying in her arms.  
  
"I love you too," he answered, drying her tears. Trip almost waited to hear him say his own version of Wes's 'I wish I could live another thousand years.' but instead he simply said, "I'll miss you."  
  
Trip chuckled. He had said he'll miss her as if he had a mind of his own. Jen could miss him, but he couldn't miss Jen. He didn't exist when Jen was awake.  
  
"I'll miss you too," she said. Then they kissed one last time (which was more than what Trip could say about her goodbye to Wes) and she walked away from him, holding his hand until their fingers were no longer touching. Just like Wes. She looked at him for a while, and Alex, suddenly, for a moment, was blond. He turned into Wes for a second and then back to Alex. She nodded and walked towards Trip, crying silently.  
  
"Why did he turn into Wes?" Trip asked.  
  
"Because, here, they were always the same person," she answered, her face covered in tears.  
  
Then, Trip was gone, and Jen, finally, woke up.  
  
******  
  
She opened her eyes slowly, the light hurting her eyes. Tears began to flow out of them freely. She didn't move; she just lay there, staring at the ceiling.  
  
She felt someone grasp her hand. She finally lowered her gaze to see who it was. It was Alex. He was smiling at her, and he actually kissed her hand. "Welcome back," he said softly, tears running down his cheeks. Jen moved her hand up to dry his cheek.  
  
"Don't cry," she said, but her voice was hoarse. She swallowed. He caressed her forehead.  
  
"They are happy tears," he said softly. The door opened behind him, and Katie and Lucas walked into the room, followed by Nadira.  
  
And Brynn.  
  
"Jen!" Katie yelled. "You're awake!" She took her friend's hand. Jen smiled.  
  
Over Katie's shoulder she could see Lucas, and Nadira, both smiling. Brynn was behind Alex, with a hand on his shoulder; she approached Jen, with a smile that looked as fake as the ones painted on Barbie dolls' faces.  
  
"I'm so glad to see you are finally getting better," she said. Jen smiled at her politely. "Wait, let me buy you some flowers!" she said, as if it was the greatest idea in the world. She turned to Alex and grasped his arm. "Come with me?" she asked. Alex smiled at Jen, and followed his eager girlfriend out.  
  
Lucas took Alex's place, holding one of Jen's hands, while Katie still held the other. "Glad you are back," Lucas said. Nadira smiled at her, nodding from over Lucas's shoulder.  
  
Jen smiled again, finally admitting to herself that, no matter how close she and Alex had been in her mind, and how happy they had been, the love he gave her was a bit empty. Nothing like the love she was getting in that room and she told herself that it was worth not being Alex's wife only to have that kiss he had given to her hand. A true kiss, from the true Alex, was worth all her illusions.  
  
Even if he was with Brynn at that moment, she had the hope that what Trip had said was true. She hoped Alex did love her, somehow.  
  
*******  
  
"What are you doing here?" Alex asked Brynn as they walked down the hall.  
  
"I just wanted to say I'm sorry for all the horrible things I told you. And I wanted to prove my good will, by buying Jen some flowers, I'm really happy she's fine again," Brynn answered, hugging him. Alex smiled at her and hugged her back.  
  
"You are the sweetest thing," he said. There was that tone again, the tone he had used on Sergeant Samorano, the one he had practiced so much.  
  
"I love you," Brynn whispered.  
  
"I love you too," he answered.  
  
Yes, I'm back in! She thought.  
  
I can't let you get away from me, Brynn, he thought. Not until you've done your part.  
  
To be continued. 


	6. New Case

Chapter 6  
  
"Two children are dead and five more are missing after mutants attacked the Eighth Avenue kindergarten in the middle of the morning, Time Force officers have already arrived at the scene--" The reporter continued to do his job as Jen walked into the kindergarten, following Alex.  
  
"They are looking for any clues to where these children might be," he told her. "Care to give them a hand?"  
  
"Sure, why not?" she answered apathetically.  
  
She walked around the kindergarten, the fear of the children coming to her. She started shaking along with them. Drawn towards a table, she knelt by it, running her hand over it, over the chair, picking up the crayons.  
  
As she continued her journey through the kindergarten, Major Logan approached Alex. "Are we sure she can use her power for this?" he asked. Alex nodded silently.  
  
"You forgot to say 'sir'," he joked.  
  
"Sir," the major said, not getting the joke.  
  
"Yes, major, we are sure she can," Alex answered.  
  
"She doesn't seem quite willing to stay awake, sir, if I'm allowed to say it."  
  
"No, she doesn't," Alex answered with a sad smile.  
  
Of course he had noticed Jen wasn't willing to stay awake. Maybe in the beginning she had been happy to be back, with her friends and her life, but now, two months later, she seemed to want to go back to her fantasy world.  
  
He feared that she did.  
  
Jen walked towards the mother of one of the toddlers who had been killed. She knelt in front of the sitting woman, who was in terrible pain, and held her tight.  
  
She could see in her mind the memories of her beautiful little princess, from the day she was born until that very morning, when she had promised to draw a picture of her mother.  
  
"I'm so sorry for your loss, I'm sure Amanda was an angel," she told the woman.  
  
"Yes, she was," the mother said, with a sigh. "Do you have children?" she asked.  
  
"No, I can only imagine what you are going through," Jen answered. "But don't you worry, we'll find the monster that did this to your daughter, I promise." She walked away, to meet Alex.  
  
Alex welcomed Jen back, Major Logan standing next to him. "What did you find out?" he asked.  
  
"They killed both children and ate them," she started. "The general feeling I get is that they are feeding from these children to get their energy; and they took the others not to eat them later, but to feed them to another mutant."  
  
"Can you tell us where they are?" Alex asked.  
  
"Not right now, but I have their mental prints," she explained. "I can find them later."  
  
In those two months she had learned a lot about her powers, for example, she had discovered her powers were on such a large scale it was easier for her to cut off the city's power than move a book from a chair, using her telekinesis. Or it was easier to find someone far away than to control the mind of someone standing next to her. Mind control was hard for her still, but she wanted to perfect it. She had been practicing with people she didn't know, and it had worked for little periods of time but it tired her more than anything else. But she was going to keep on practicing, because practice makes perfect.  
  
"Good," Alex said. "Want to grab some lunch?" She nodded. "Something light," she said. "We don't want me to go all drowsy, right?"  
  
********  
  
The children cried and called for their mommies. But they didn't come. They were in a dark room, dark cold, with stone walls, and bars on the ceiling, which was open. It was a subterranean dungeon, monsters kept walking over the ceiling, the children screamed even harder.  
  
"Send him in," said a voice. It was female and HUMAN.  
  
A door opened, the children yelled louder, the monster growled.  
  
******  
  
Jen's eyes snapped open. She had been searching for the kids and she had connected with them. She was sitting in her office, with Alex holding one of her arms and Lucas the other, to prevent her from hurting herself, as had happened a few days ago, while she was searching for a man who had been kidnapped. Unfortunately, she found him mentally when he was trying to escape, and had started to throw punches left and right. She hit the wall a couple of times, and cut her hand when she hit the window.  
  
Of course they hadn't expected the children to be throwing punches left and right, but they might be getting hurt, or something else. However, she had gone and returned without any violent incidents.  
  
"It's too late for them," she said simply, a tear running down her cheek. "We lost them."  
  
"No!" Lucas yelled, punching the table.  
  
"Where were they?" Alex asked.  
  
"Some sort of subterranean dungeon. I didn't see anything more helpful, all I can say is that we must start looking for--"  
  
"Bodies," Katie finished the sentence for her.  
  
"Not bodies," Jen said; her sight lost. "Just bones," she explained. The others lowered their gazes.  
  
"Well, if that's it, I think you'd better go home and rest a little, Jen," Alex said.  
  
Jen looked at him, smiled and nodded. "Yes, my head hurts a little," she said and got up. As she walked out, Alex grabbed her arm and she spun around.  
  
"Don't sleep for too long, ok? We might need you again," he pleaded.  
  
"Don't worry," Jen said and walked out.  
  
But she didn't head home, she headed somewhere where she could find what she needed, and nobody would ask her any questions.  
  
*******  
  
"Dopey" was standing in the alley. She was late already. He was scared it might be a trap; she was a Time Force officer after all. She was freaking late already, he gave her five more minutes to get there, or she was going to need a prescription to get those sleeping pills.  
  
To be continued. 


	7. Panic Attack

Chapter 7  
  
"Dopey" was standing in the alley where they had agreed. He seemed angry. Jen had gotten in touch with him during one of her night rounds, and had made a deal with him; if he provided her with sleeping pills, he was allowed to stay free. She knew it was selfish to leave such a menace to society as a drug dealer because of the need she had for sleeping pills no doctor would prescribe her, but she saw no other way.  
  
She walked towards the small, skinny young man, he couldn't be older than twenty-three but he must have been a long time consumer, because his depravity was visible from far away. And his mind was a mess, Jen noticed. His mind was like one of those low budget movies whose directors called 'art' but were nothing but a bad edition of nonsensical, non-connected images. And, physically, he was like a mouse, white and shaky, almost furtive.  
  
"Hello there, criminal," she greeted him cruelly.  
  
"You're late!" he complained angrily, throwing glances towards both sides and running his hands through his straw-colored hair.  
  
Jen put a hand on his shoulder. "I'm alone. Did you get them?" she asked.  
  
He nodded and showed her a small plastic bottle. "There's a hundred of them in here. Be careful, these little bitches are powerful, taking more than two in twenty-four hours may equal suicide," he warned.  
  
Jen nodded. She had no intention of committing suicide; she only wanted to sleep for a few days. She wanted to get away from the pain and be with Alex, they had been apart for too long. She had waited to see if he reacted in those two months, but he hadn't. He was still dating Brynn, and they seemed happier every day; Jen had no doubt soon they'd be announcing their wedding. So before she had the pleasure of hearing that, she was going back with her Alex, at least for a few days. But before that, she had a little bone to pick with someone.  
  
Jen took the bottle from Dopey and hid it in her jacket. He didn't like her smile, it was crazed, like that of someone who was thinking about hurting someone else, like the smile serial killers had in all those horror movies where someone got killed every few minutes.  
  
"Make good use of them; please, don't commit suicide, I don't want to be charged with murder," he pleaded; he was truly scared of her.  
  
Jen raised her eyebrows. "Is that so?" she asked cruelly. "It was a pleasure doing business with you, and forget we ever met."  
  
She got on her bike, and left.  
  
He forgot her.  
  
*******  
  
Brynn delivered another disk to the monster. "These are the files for the new weapon Time Force will develop for the Power Rangers. All the specifications are in it, and the mistress will have no problem in making a strategy against it," she said.  
  
"Thank you," the monster growled.  
  
Then everything was quiet, and Brynn assumed he was gone. She could never be sure her 'guardian' was gone. He was invisible, and by the way his voice sounded, she was glad of it. She had been recruited by 'The Mistress' a few months before she started to date Alex, and she had been asked, as a first mission, to get into his house and copy all his files.  
  
Brynn was scared she might be caught, but more afraid of what The Mistress might do to her. Time Force didn't scare her. They couldn't get any information from her, because, after all, if she was to be interrogated they would ask her things like who she worked for, or what her guardian looked like; and the answer to both questions was a very lame (but true) 'I don't know'.  
  
Lately she had the suspicion Alex knew who she was and what she had been doing in his apartment while he was gone, but she could never be sure. Maybe he had known all along and was playing with her while she played with him, or maybe not.  
  
She took a deep breath, she was starting to shake. This had been fun at the beginning, when she had switched her fifty dollars a week for five hundred a day, which was the amount The Mistress offered her. Now she wasn't so sure, she had realized The Mistress, whoever she was, was a very dangerous woman, with a lot of influence over mutants and human. She was the head of the gang that controlled all the other gangs of criminals in town, maybe even Ransik's gang had been under her command.  
  
Brynn walked towards the window, and saw Jen standing in her bedroom window, staring at her. She threw her a smile, she had never liked that idiotic woman, who was stupid enough to break up with Alexander Drake, for heaven's sake!  
  
However Jen was there and she seemed dangerous, standing in front of her window, staring at her. Brynn was filled with fear, fear towards the woman who was now smiling at her, with a crazed expression. Jen threw her a mocking kiss from across the street and went inside.  
  
Brynn sat on the bed, breathing heavily. She heard the door open. Alex was home. She didn't want to spend the night in that apartment, she was afraid (and the absurdity of this thought was absolutely present in her mind as she was thinking it) Jen might kill her in her sleep. She walked out of the room and found Alex checking the mail.  
  
"Hey, baby," she greeted him; he looked up at her and smiled.  
  
"Hello yourself."  
  
"I, um, want to spend the night at home."  
  
"Home?"  
  
"My apartment," she clarified. "I heard my sister was sick, and I'm waiting for my mother to call, she doesn't know this number." Alex looked at her, worry for her sister showing on his face. He was such a sweetheart, she almost felt bad for using him the way she was doing.  
  
Alex, on the other hand, was worried, and it showed, but it was caused by something else. He had thought Jen planned to hurt Brynn, and he knew it wasn't his imagination. He had to get Brynn out of there, before Jen did anything stupid. He knew Jen could find her and hurt her just the same there or in her apartment, but the difficulty Jen would have finding Brynn at home would give him enough time to talk her out of it.  
  
"Get your stuff," he asked her. She nodded and went to pick up her things. While she was at it, Alex called Jen. She picked up before the first ring.  
  
"What?" she asked, her voiced annoyed. She had been expecting his call.  
  
"What are you planning to do?"  
  
"Nothing. If you are going to save her, it means she means a lot to you. I'm not going to hurt her because it would be hurting you."  
  
"We both know you're lying, since when do you hurt people in their sleep?"  
  
"I don't hurt people. I only hurt women who are sleeping with the man I want," she answered.  
  
"Jen, you don't understand, Brynn is important, not just for me but--"  
  
"I already know that, but she's still sleeping with the man I want."  
  
"Jen, you are not like this, I don't know what's wrong with you, but this isn't you."  
  
"I told you I'm not going to hurt her."  
  
"I can sense you are going to hurt someone," he said, a sudden idea going through his mind. "Are you going to hurt me?"  
  
"No." She hung up.  
  
Brynn came out. He took her hand and smiled at her. She hugged him, trembling. He kissed her cheek, he knew Jen must be putting horrible images inside her head, he could tell just how petrified she was, she had started to cry, and Brynn wasn't a coward. He wondered why Jen was doing this, everyone knew she had powers, and if something happened to Brynn, she would be a suspect.  
  
They would never be able to prove it. Legally, without any physical evidence they can't send her to jail. She put that thought in his head. He needed to talk her out of it; he had to convince her of-- His cell phone rang.  
  
"I told you I'm not going to hurt her anymore, I promise I won't," Jen said on the other line. "Do you trust me?"  
  
"Who are you going to hurt, if not Brynn?" Brynn looked at him with fear- filled eyes.  
  
"Do you trust me or not, Alex?" she insisted, ignoring his question.  
  
"I don't know," he answered.  
  
And he didn't.  
  
She hung up.  
  
To be continued. 


	8. Say Goodnight

Chapter 8  
  
It was the power.  
  
It was all about the power.  
  
Jen had never intended to really hurt Brynn, but she liked the feeling of power it gave her to put those horrible images in her head, to scare her. The sensation was exhilarating, she felt big, important, powerful. She had scared Brynn and she had scared Alex, for no other reason but to feel like that, the way she felt when she was asleep.  
  
She visualized Alex, holding Brynn's hand as he drove her over to her apartment. She saw Brynn, crying in terror. She put images of pillows that pressed against her face with no hands holding them, she made her think of high voltage cables ripping from their poles and sneaking into her bed.  
  
Enough, she heard a part of her mind say. That's enough, you are wasting time.  
  
True, she was wasting precious time; Alex had been thinking about going to her apartment after returning from Brynn's- If he got there in time, he might stop her. So she had to hold him back, along with anybody else who might try to stop her.  
  
She went to her bed and lay there. The plastic bottle of sleeping pills she had gotten from Dopey was on the night table. She smiled at it and grabbed it. "Alex," she whispered. That mean anger she had had moments earlier had been replaced by the perpetual misery. She felt a tear run down her cheek.  
  
She opened the bottle.  
  
She was going where she belonged. *******  
  
Alex didn't like it. He couldn't figure out what was wrong with Jen, but he was going to find out. He took his cell phone, and dialed Katie's number.  
  
"Hello," she said on the other end.  
  
"I don't mean to worry you, Katie, but you, Lucas and Trip have to get to Jen's place quickly," he said.  
  
"Why? What happened?"  
  
"Nothing's happened, and nothing will, if you hurry. If you don't.Well, I think she's going back to her dreams, forever," he said.  
  
"I'm on it," she said, and hung up.  
  
Alex turned to Brynn; she was looking out the window. "Still scared?" he asked her softly.  
  
"No, not anymore," she said, looking at him. "They stopped, the horrible images of things, inanimate objects, plotting to kill me in horrible ways. I couldn't think about anything else, I couldn't keep them out of my mind, but now they are gone, just gone."  
  
"Good," he said. He didn't think it was good. If Jen had stopped putting those images in Brynn's head, it was because she might have other plans, or because she couldn't anymore. He shuddered at the last thought. *******  
  
Katie called Lucas; Trip was at her house, installing some new house software.  
  
"Lucas, we have to get to Jen's place quickly, Alex thinks she might be about to hurt herself," she said, her voice loud, showing her worry and fear.  
  
"What are you talking about?"  
  
"I'll meet you there, please, hurry," Katie said, and hung up.  
  
She and Trip ran downstairs and got in her car. She tried to turn it on, but it didn't respond.  
  
"Come on!" she yelled.  
  
"She can't let you do that," Trip said.  
  
"What?" she turned to him, he was looking straight at her, his forehead sweaty, he was licking his lips rapidly, the way he did when he was nervous.  
  
"She's sending me that thought. She's telling me that even if our intentions are good, she can't let us get there in time," he explained.  
  
"I'll walk then," she said and moved to open the car door. It didn't give. "Jen, come on!" she yelled, tears of fear forming in her eyes. "What is it you want to do?"  
  
"She wants to sleep," Trip whispered, tears forming in his eyes as well. "She just wants to sleep," His voice sounded as if he was begging.  
  
"Why are you crying?" Katie asked a bit angrily. His tears were bringing more tears to her eyes.  
  
"She's taking me over. Her pain is so big, it's overwhelming," he said, Katie broke into tears herself. "She says she loves us, and she says goodbye."  
  
"No!" Katie yelled through her tears, shaking Trip. "Don't let her, please Trip, don't let her!!" ********  
  
Alex took Brynn home and made her some tea. "Here," he said.  
  
She was sitting on her couch, looking at him with deer eyes. "Thanks," she said.  
  
"Brynn, I have to go, I think Jen--"  
  
"Jen, Jen, Jen!" she said bitterly. "She's the only one that matters, right? She's the only one you care about, isn't she?"  
  
"Yes," he admitted. Brynn looked at him, tears running down her cheeks. "We'll talk later, ok? I promise," he said and left.  
  
Jen. It was Jen. It was all about Jen.  
  
He ran towards his car and got in. He tried to turn it on, and, for the first time in the five years he had owned it, it didn't turn on.  
  
"What the--?"  
  
Jennifer. The thought came to him swiftly. It was Jen stopping the car. His cell phone rang. It was Jen calling. He knew it, and he also knew he didn't want to pick up; he didn't want to hear what she had to say.  
  
The phone rang again. Alex felt his hand moving towards it and taking it from the seat. He didn't want to pick up, so she was forcing him to pick up the damn phone. Jen was. He opened the phone and pressed it against his ear.  
  
"Why do you offer such resistance?" she asked; her voice was sad. "Why do you resist me, my touch, my words, my love?"  
  
"I don't want to hear it, Jennifer, I don't want to hear your reasons, because I'm not letting you do this,"  
  
"You are, because now you don't have a choice. How are you going to get out of that car?" she asked.  
  
He tried the door, but he was locked in. he took a deep breath. "Why me, Jennifer? Why didn't you call Katie, or Lucas or Trip? Why me?"  
  
"Because it was your voice I wanted to hear last," she answered softly, her voice was sticky, as if she was drowsy. "Tell me that you love me, Alex," she pleaded.  
  
"Let me start the car, and I will."  
  
"This is not a petition, Alex, you are not allowed to make deals, and you don't have much time. Tell me that you love me."  
  
"Start the car."  
  
"Alex, please, I don't have much time, it's all I want, I want to hear you say that you love me!"  
  
"And I want you to start the car."  
  
Say that you love me, now! He heard her say in his mind.  
  
"I love you, Jennifer" he heard himself say.  
  
"I love you too."  
  
"How did you do that?" he asked, trying to keep her thinking, to keep her awake.  
  
"Do what?"  
  
"Forcing me to tell you that I love you."  
  
"My powers," she said simply. He took another deep breath; he had expected a longer answer. He tried another way.  
  
"Why are you doing this, Jennifer? Why do you want to die?"  
  
"Die?!" she repeated surprised. "I don't want to die, Alex, I just want to sleep."  
  
"For how long?"  
  
"For as long as it pleases me," she answered.  
  
"You are going to die."  
  
"At least I'm going to die happy," she commented, her tone of voice was lowering, she was losing consciousness. "Don't you see that it's perfect like this? I'll be with you, and you can be with Brynn, or with anyone you want."  
  
"I want to be with you."  
  
"It's too late for those lies; they don't make a difference now."  
  
"Jennifer, please stay with me."  
  
"I'm going to. Please don't wake me up, I just want to sleep, I just want to be with you."  
  
"I can't promise that."  
  
"I knew you wouldn't," she said with broken voice. She hung up.  
  
"Jennifer," Alex whispered sadly. How had a strong-willed, brave, intelligent woman like Jennifer ended up being a rag like that? She had powers she could use in so many different ways, why did she have to use them to sleep? The car started. A tear ran down his cheek, she was gone. *******  
  
Jen lay on her side, in a fetal position. She was holding Alex's shirt, and a teddy bear he had once given her. Her covers were pulled up and for all the world she looked like a four-year-old sleeping and dreaming about being a princess in a pink palace with her charming prince and winged pony.  
  
Alex got there before the others. He used his authorized voice print to enter the apartment and ran to Jen's bedroom. "Jennifer," he called her, picking her up, one arm under her neck, the other around her body, with his hand on her back. "Wake up," he pleaded. He shook her, her body shook as if she was a rag doll.  
  
He picked her up, as if he was a father picking his little girl up. He sat down on the windowsill with Jen's body falling limply over his arms. He cried, lulling her, rocking her softly, and kissing her forehead. The teddy bear had fallen to the floor and he looked at it while he rocked her. He had lost her. He was too late and now she was gone.  
  
He heard footsteps in the corridor and looked up. "No!" Katie's scream wasn't loud, but it was true, charged with emotion and pain. She ran to her friend and caressed her hair. "Jen!" she called.  
  
"Is she dead?" Lucas asked.  
  
"No, even worse," Alex said. "She's asleep,"  
  
To be continued. 


	9. Overdose

Chapter 9  
  
Lucas called the emergency number. Someone had to be practical and do something, and Alex obviously wasn't that person (although they all half expected him to be the one who didn't react emotionally to anything). He picked the Teddy bear up and saw the pills.  
  
"This is what she took," he said, but no one paid attention. He poured the bottle out on a table and counted the pills. There were ninety-five pills, and the label said it originally had a hundred. "She took five, with this dose they'll kill her," he told himself. Good thing he had already called an ambulance.  
  
Trip was sitting on the bed, his eyes closed, his gem glowing. He was trying to get to Jen; Lucas hoped he would, that was the only way to keep her from dying now. ******  
  
"Something's wrong," Jen told Alex. "I feel sick."  
  
"Maybe it was something you ate," he said.  
  
"I haven't eaten anything," she answered. She arched and threw up.  
  
"This is bad," Alex commented.  
  
"Worse than you think," Trip said behind him. Jen looked at him, angrily.  
  
"What are you doing here?"  
  
"You almost killed yourself."  
  
"I just took some sleeping pills, so you would let me sleep!"  
  
"You took too many."  
  
"No, I didn't," she said.  
  
"Jen, you are in great danger."  
  
"I can't wake up now," she said, "My body is weak so I can't wake up."  
  
"You don't have to stay here, you can fight this."  
  
"Maybe I can, but I don't want to."  
  
"Come with me and save your life."  
  
"I'm not falling for that again, I'm not leaving."  
  
"Jen, listen--"  
  
"No, you listen," she interrupted him angrily. "This time, you'll have to force me to go back, because I'm not going, not of my own free will. I have my husband, and I'm not leaving him again, ever."  
  
"Jen--" He started, but he couldn't finish. She threw up again.  
  
"What's this?" she asked, scared.  
  
"It's your body, you are very sick, you have an OD."  
  
She threw up again, and fainted. Alex knelt next to her, before disappearing. Trip felt how his environment changed, and he felt himself being thrown out of that mind. She was dying.  
  
********  
  
He opened his eyes; the smell of vomit caught his nose. Now he knew why Jen had been throwing up in her mind, she could control herself, in the mind, only if her body remained still.  
  
But Alex had snapped back out of it, apparently, and had forced her to throw up the pills she hadn't digested yet. She threw up three, but they were a little destroyed, so she had ingested more than she could tolerate, anyway.  
  
The doorbell rang and the paramedics entered the room. "What happened?" one of them asked.  
  
"We found her like this," Lucas explained. "She took five of these pills." He gave the paramedic the bottle.  
  
"These are strong," the man said. "Ok, let's give her a general antidote, and let's take her to the hospital so they can detoxify her," he instructed his fellow paramedics. They got to work, and they soon had Jen stabilized, they were giving her oxygen and were monitoring her heart and pulse.  
  
They took her in the ambulance. The rangers let Alex go with her, he had found her, and he was the reason all this was happening.  
  
They all got into Lucas's car, and on their way to the hospital, their communicators beeped. "Rangers, we need you all here, we have new information on the dead children case," Major Logan informed them.  
  
"That'll have to wait," Katie said.  
  
"Why? What happened?"  
  
"Jen is on her way to the hospital, with a drug OD."  
  
"Drugs? Jennifer?"  
  
"Yes, she took some sleeping pills, she accidentally overdosed, we are following the ambulance; General Drake is with her."  
  
"Well, get here as soon as you can. This is important."  
  
"No offense, sir, but I think Jen's health is a bit more important."  
  
"Trust me, it isn't," Major Drake said and closed the channel.  
  
"What could be more important than Jen's health?" Katie asked, somewhat hurt. Trip turned on the radio, his gem again glowing.  
  
"---six children were taken from four different apartments of this building, they were all in the company of nannies, who are now all dead. The mutants destroyed and robbed the apartments and took the children, although they left the blood covered skeletons of a pair of twins who lived in one of the attacked apartments. The parents of these children were at a special evening for the tenants of the building's apartments. Of course, now they all regret it--"  
  
To be continued. 


	10. chapter 10

Chapter 10  
  
"She's stable, but right now, she won't wake up, she's still under the effects of the drugs," the doctor informed him. Alex frowned and nodded, starting to sit in the waiting room.  
  
"You can go into her room, if you want," the doctor suggested. Alex nodded and followed him.  
  
He wondered where Katie, Lucas and Trip had gone, they were right behind him, and suddenly, the ambulance had lost them. He shrugged it off; the only important thing right now was Jennifer's health.  
  
He entered the room and sat next to her holding her hand. "What happened to you, Jennifer?" he asked her softly, caressing her hand. "When did you start believing that dreaming your life away was a good option?"  
  
*******  
  
"There are no clues. Not one fiber, one scent; not even a tooth mark on the children's bones. There's nothing," the officer in charge told Lucas.  
  
"Did you double check?" he asked.  
  
"Yes, physically there's nothing we can do," the man assured him. "Didn't you have a psychic in your team, a captain? I thought she was helping."  
  
"She's not feeling very well right now."  
  
"Ah, did she discover the wonders her powers can do when she's asleep? They all do, eventually they all fall asleep."  
  
"Eventually," Lucas commented and walked away.  
  
He met Trip and Katie inside one of the apartments. "Trip, why don't you go to the hospital, and tell Jen that we need her help with this case?"  
  
"All right," the green-haired boy said and left. Katie and Lucas stayed and directed the photo session, since there wasn't really any evidence to pick up, except the skeletons of two five-year-olds who apparently hadn't see it coming (judging from the fact they were on their beds and their torn pajamas were next to the bones).  
  
"It seems like it didn't hurt them," Katie said. "They were asleep."  
  
"No, they weren't," Lucas whispered pointing at a bone that seemed backwards. "They were posed."  
  
*******  
  
Trip got to Jen's room and found Alex staring at her, caressing her hand, as if hypnotized. "Alex?" he asked.  
  
The other man looked up and pointed at another chair. "Where have you guys been?"  
  
"At a crime scene." Alex stood up suddenly at the news.  
  
"Crime scene?"  
  
"Yes, six more children were taken, two of them were eaten on the spot, another four disappeared," Trip explained. Alex ran a hand through his hair. "I'm here to beg Jen to come back and help us, because the mutants didn't leave any physical evidence, and my powers aren't half as strong as Jen's."  
  
"Sure, go ahead," Alex authorized. "I'll be right back, I have to call to the office." He left the room.  
  
Trip took Jen's hand and a deep breath.  
  
*******  
  
Trip entered Jen's mind, it was night, and he was standing outside of a restaurant. Jen was sitting inside, with Alex, Katie, Lucas and (it really didn't surprise the original) a Trip. The real Trip walked inside, and Jen looked up at him, rolling her eyes.  
  
"Now what?"  
  
"Six more children have been attacked, we need your help," Trip said.  
  
"None of my business," she answered coldly.  
  
"Jen, please, you are the only one who can help us."  
  
"The only thing I can tell you is where to start looking for the bodies."  
  
"That's good enough; maybe we'll find more evidence on them."  
  
"I said it's not of my business."  
  
"Think about all those mothers, Jen. You always dreamt of being a mother, think about how you'd feel if your son was taken from you, and the only person who could help you find him simply refused to, because it's too comfortable to stay away, living in a dream."  
  
He had asked her to think about something, and she was doing so. The restaurant was gone, and the kindergarten where the first attack had occurred came to be around them. The mothers of the missing children were all sitting there, crying, and Jen was seated among them, crying as well.  
  
She looked at Trip bitterly and said, "I don't like this." She opened her arms and a baby boy ran to her open arms.  
  
"Mommy!!" the boy cried. Jen hugged him tightly.  
  
"Don't ever scare me like this again, Dylan!" she said softly.  
  
"You are so lucky," said one of the other mothers. "Your baby got the chance to hide, and he was just too scared to come out. Not like mine, who I will never see again."  
  
"I'm sorry for your loss," Jen said, letting go of the toddler, who immediately disappeared along with the rest of the kindergarten.  
  
"Why don't you come back and help us?"  
  
"Because I can't."  
  
"Why not?"  
  
"I just had an overdose of sleeping pills and no matter how many times I say it was an accident, they'll always think it was an attempt of suicide, which it wasn't," she added when she saw his expression. "They'll lock me in the psychiatric wing of the hospital for weeks, maybe months, what use will I be awake if I'm locked in a bedroom?"  
  
Trip was left speechless. She was right, they would never let her work again after she woke up; she was going to spend some time in rehabilitation. If she wakes up, Trip couldn't help himself from thinking.  
  
The restaurant was back. Jen was again seated next to her friends and husband enjoying a delicious dinner, and ignoring his presence completely. He decided to get out, it occurred to him there was a better way to make Jen come back. Next time, instead of coming in alone, he was going to bring Alex along with him.  
  
*******  
  
"Perfect," the Mistress said. "These are the right children, feed them to my precious little boy," she instructed.  
  
"Everything is ready, ma'am," said one of her mutant minions. "We can start the plan now."  
  
"Great," she said. "After we are done, Jennifer Scotts won't know what hit her." She laughed evilly picking up a picture she had on her table that showed Alex and Jen holding hands and smiling to the camera. "But first, I want to make myself sure everything is really ready."  
  
To Be Continued. 


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11  
  
"This is a new device I made for Circuit," Trip announced to Alex the day after. The device was nothing but a bunch of thin cables with chips at their ends that came out of Circuit's claws.  
  
"What does it do?" Alex asked, taking the bunch of cables in his hand.  
  
"It's an interface that will allow your mental print to take shape and move to another mind," Trip explained. Alex's eyes shone with excitement.  
  
"So, this thing will help me get inside Jen's mind with you?" he asked.  
  
Trip nodded. "I think you can influence Jen better than anyone else."  
  
"I don't know," Alex said sadly. He remembered Jen's word when she had called him.  
  
"I want to be with you," he had told her.  
  
"It's too late for those lies; they don't make a difference now," she had said sadly.  
  
Too late for those lies. She hadn't believed him back then, just like she hadn't believed him when he had said he was sorry, in the cafeteria, that time that seemed a lifetime ago.  
  
Alex explained this to Trip, Lucas and Katie. They all seemed thoughtful. "You can prove her wrong," Trip said. "You can convince her that you love her, you can make her believe you need her."  
  
"I do need her, and I do love her," Alex commented. He sighed. "I think I took the wrong path in the beginning of all this, I followed the wrong advice."  
  
He had. A man, who called himself his friend and shall forevermore remain nameless and out of his memory, had convinced him that the best way to react to Jen's decision was putting her down, giving her the cold shoulder and pretending he didn't love her anymore. Stupidly enough he had followed that advice, and now he was facing the Jen who had resulted from it. He explained this as well.  
  
"Look, Alex, we all make mistakes," Katie said. "Jen loves you, and I'm sure she will believe anything you tell her."  
  
"She's right," Lucas added. "Try, you won't lose anything."  
  
Alex nodded to that, encouraged. "Let's get this thing working," he told Trip.  
  
Trip and Circuit began setting up the device. They connected cables back and forth, and soon they had Jen's entire forehead covered with the tips of some cables that went into Circuit. Out of Circuit came another set of cables whose tips where being attached to Alex's forehead by Katie.  
  
"Ok," Circuit announced with his rascal baby voice, "I have the software all ready."  
  
"Thanks Circuit," Trip said. Circuit blinked slowly, to show he liked the credit given.  
  
"Are you sure this is going to work?" Alex asked.  
  
"Yes," Trip said. He looked at Alex, licking his lips nervously. "Look, Alex, it's important that you know - inside there, Jen can do anything. And I mean ANYTHING, she can jump off buildings, fly, grow walls in front of us if she wants to. There are no rules or laws in there," he warned, then looking at him significantly, added, "for anyone." Alex smirked and nodded - no rules for anyone meant they could do whatever they wanted as well. "But we'll have some limitations. We can change ourselves, morph, heal, fly, just anything about ourselves. But we can't modify our environment, that's only under Jen's control," Trip finished.  
  
Alex nodded his understanding; he already had his plan formed. "I'm ready," he said, looking at Jen, who looked so peaceful asleep, he wondered if waking her up was worth it. Then he shook the thought. He could make her as happy as she wanted to be, when she woke up, it would be worth it.  
  
"Circuit," Trip said.  
  
"Alex, you'll feel dizzy for a little while," the robot announced.  
  
*******  
  
Alex felt dizzy, all right.  
  
It was more like the dreamer's vertigo, a really nasty sensation. He opened his eyes and found himself inside of a pretty living room. It was simple; the furniture didn't look expensive, and the ornaments were mostly pictures. Pictures of Jen and Alex, on their wedding day, on their honeymoon, or just smiling at the camera covered almost every surface. Alex found a picture of them both with his mother. He snickered.  
  
Alex's mother had stopped talking to him when he had introduced Jennifer as his girlfriend.  
  
She had learned about Jennifer's origins (Her family were long-time traditional farmers) and had decided she wasn't good enough for him, without even getting to know her. His mother had refused to talk to Jen since ever, and the first (and only) time Jen had visited the mansion she had asked her if she felt more comfortable drinking milk, instead of wine. When, innocently enough, Jen had said 'no, thanks, I like the wine', his mother had thrown her glass of red wine on Jen's new dress (a dress that, by the way, she had saved for a long time to buy and was really excited about) saying something along the lines of 'do you like the wine on your dress, farm girl?'  
  
Jen had gotten up from the table, saying she didn't have to take that and walked out of the mansion; Alex had stayed long enough to tell his mother that Jen was the woman he planned to marry and she had answered that he hadn't picked just any farm-girl; he had picked a proud one. Alex had growled at her and had gone after Jen. He had found her almost at the gates, had begged her to get in the car and had noticed she had been crying. 'All I wanted was for her to like me,' she had said with a small, broken voice. He had taken her home and stayed with her almost all night, with the promise of talking to his mother. He never told Jen that, when he had called her in the morning, his mother had asked him if he had broken up with her yet.  
  
Since that morning, five years ago, Alex hadn't spoken more than a few words to his mother again.  
  
They walked around the living room for a while. "What do we do now?" Alex asked.  
  
"Just wait."  
  
"Shouldn't we try to find her?"  
  
"She'll find us," Trip said. As if listening to his words, Jen appeared in the kitchen door. Her belly was enlarged, she was pregnant. Trip cleared his throat and Alex just choked on his words.  
  
"What are--" she began, and then she saw Alex. Her face was suddenly filled with fear and pain. "H-h-how did he get in here?" she asked Trip, pointing at Alex.  
  
"Trip made me a device," Alex said.  
  
She looked at Trip, who suddenly found a picture interesting. She gave him the same annoyed look she had given him when Wes had approached her, after he told him about Alex. "What are you doing here?" she asked Alex.  
  
"Is this our house?" he asked.  
  
She lowered her gaze, her face showing an expression as if he had slapped her. He was making fun of her dreams. "It's not our house, it's my house--"  
  
"We got divorced?"  
  
There it was, more joking. "NO!" she said forcefully. "I meant it's not 'ours'" she clarified, pointing at herself and him, both. "It's my house, mine and Alex's. My Alex."  
  
"Isn't he supposed to be me?"  
  
"No, you are outside, living your life."  
  
"That's right, I'm living my life, and you are dreaming your life away," he told her.  
  
She looked away in the way she did when she realized half-way through a fight that she was wrong but refused to admit it. "What do you care?"  
  
"I care, because I want you awake, living your life."  
  
"No," she said angrily. "You want me awake helping you with that case of the missing children, if I didn't have my powers you wouldn't want me awake!"  
  
"If you didn't have your powers, you wouldn't be asleep in the first place. It'd be a paradox," he answered smartly.  
  
"Go away," she said.  
  
"Jen, listen," he started. She looked away from him, annoyed. "I know you don't believe me, but I- I still love you," he said.  
  
She looked at him, her eyes filled with hurt. "How dare you to come in here and tell me that you love me after you ignored me and mistreated me for months?!"  
  
"I know I did, and I really didn't want to do it, I just followed the wrong advice."  
  
"Bite me."  
  
"Jen, he's not lying," Trip said softly.  
  
"You, shut up!" Jen ordered him. "You've done enough with bringing him in here." Trip was happy to do as he was told.  
  
"Where am I?" Alex asked.  
  
"Inside of my mind."  
  
"I meant 'your' me."  
  
"He's in the kitchen, making me some pancakes."  
  
"Is that what you are craving?"  
  
"Why are you making fun of my dreams?! At least let me be happy here."  
  
"I'm not making fun of your dreams. I'm just wondering what is it I'm giving you here that I can't give you out there," he said.  
  
"Your love, first of all."  
  
"I love you! I keep telling you but you don't believe me!"  
  
"Why should I believe you?" she asked looking away from him.  
  
Alex was now mad. He went back to his original plan and focused with all his might in changing himself. Trip walked away slowly, he didn't want to be around when she saw him.  
  
"Would you believe me if I looked like this?" He asked. She looked up, he was blonde and he was wearing Wes's outfit.  
  
"Change back," she pleaded.  
  
"Why? You don't want to see him? Do you trust me now? Do you believe I love you now? " "NO!" she yelled. "I DON'T want to see him, I DON'T trust you and I DON'T believe you!!" she yelled. Alex was so stunned he lost focus and changed back. "You abandoned me, when I need you the most you abandoned me,"  
  
"You were the one who broke up with me," he said quietly.  
  
"You died on me, Alex; you died and left me all alone,"  
  
"But I came back, and I still love you, but you moved away from me, away from me and towards him,"  
  
"You treated me like a stranger when I need you the most!" she complained. "I needed you to hold me, to kiss me, to tell me that you were truly there, that you were the same Alex I loved. But you didn't Alex! You DIDN'T!!"  
  
"I'm sorry!" he said sarcastically. "I just thought you needed space to spend some time with Wes! I saw that break up coming, with the way you looked at him, when you asked me to give him the place I had earned with hard work!"  
  
"You could have talked to me!"  
  
"And so could you! Back then and before doing this!"  
  
They both shut up, tears running down both of their cheeks. "I'm so tired of crying," she said, drying her tears off.  
  
He walked to her and put his hands on her shoulders. "Jen, please, believe me, trust me, I love you, I can make you happy, as happy as you are in here."  
  
"You can't," she said. He let go of her, sighing in impotence. "Here there's no Time Force risking our lives and keeping us apart. Here it's just you and me."  
  
"There's nothing I can do about that out there, Jennifer," he said.  
  
"There's something I can do about it in here, Alex," she said sadly. "Please leave."  
  
"Just one more question," he said. She looked at him. "Is the baby mine?" he asked.  
  
"No, he's my Alex's," she answered. "It's a girl, you always wanted a boy," she explained.  
  
"What's her name?"  
  
"She doesn't have one yet," she answered, caressing her abdomen. He smiled at her sadly.  
  
"Please, come back to me."  
  
"Let me think about it."  
  
"Do you, at least, believe that I love you?"  
  
"You came all the way in here, didn't you?" she asked smiling slightly. He smiled, feeling encouraged by her expression.  
  
"For how long will you stay?"  
  
"Until the baby's born."  
  
"When will that be?"  
  
"I don't know."  
  
He nodded. The false Alex had walked out of the kitchen and was now standing next to Jen. "What's with the beard?" the real Alex asked him. He had a goatee.  
  
"The wife likes it," he answered. The real Alex nodded.  
  
"You know, Jen, I came here to tell you that you are really alone, lying on a bed, dreaming your life away," he started. "But now I see your world, the place you are living in and I noticed you are not alone, we are all, somehow, in here with you. Now I just want to tell you that we can make the world out there be almost as nice as this one, if we stay together."  
  
"Will we stay together if I go back?"  
  
"Will you go back?"  
  
"Are you still seeing Brynn?"  
  
"I plan to leave her," he said.  
  
"Don't," she instructed.  
  
He looked at her puzzled. "Why not? I thought you wanted to be with me."  
  
"I do," she said, holding the hand of her Alex. "But it'll be dangerous, if not fatal, for her if you break up with her."  
  
"Why?"  
  
"You'll find out when you have to."  
  
"Will you wake up?"  
  
"Not for now." Alex lowered his gaze, defeated.  
  
"Jen." Trip called for her attention.  
  
"Yes?"  
  
"I have one question; If the OD was an accident, then why did you take the pills in the first place? I thought psychics could control when and for how long they sleep."  
  
"We can, but we can't control the depth of our sleep, and mine is very light, I can hear the noises, and feel it when people shake me; that causes me a loss of control in here. I took the pills to fall into a deeper sleep, to disconnect from my body completely."  
  
"But you couldn't, when Alex forced you to throw up, you did it in here too."  
  
"Not really, it was mere coincidence, that was my morning sickness," she lied.  
  
"Not true," Alex said.  
  
"Why not?" she asked.  
  
"You live in a perfect world and you kept the morning sickness?"  
  
She smiled. "Busted," her Alex whispered in her ear.  
  
"I felt it," she admitted. "When somebody lifted me and rocked me, caressing my hair and kissing my forehead, and then the throwing up, the cold water, the detoxification. Who was it, by the way, the one holding me?" she asked.  
  
"It was me," Alex said.  
  
To be continued. 


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12.  
  
Alex, Trip, Lucas and Katie were walking down the Time Force headquarters corridors, going towards Alex's office, to discuss the missing children case. Meanwhile, they talked about Jen.  
  
"So, is she coming back?" Katie asked Trip and Alex when they finished telling them about their encounter with Jen.  
  
"We don't know," they admitted.  
  
"What do we do now?" Lucas asked.  
  
"I think Alex made very good progress with her in there," Trip said. "The best we can do for now is wait."  
  
"Ok," the others agreed.  
  
They got to Alex's office and sat around the meeting table. "So, what about those children?" Trip asked.  
  
"If the crime was committed by the same mutants from the kindergarten, then they are dead already. We have to check both crime scenes again, and see if we can find anything else," Alex explained.  
  
"Lucas discovered something about the bodies yesterday," Katie said.  
  
"What was it?"  
  
"The skeletons were posed after they were eaten," Lucas informed.  
  
"Posed?" Alex asked.  
  
"Yes, they were positioned after they were killed."  
  
"Positioned to look like what?" Alex asked.  
  
"We don't know yet," Lucas answered. "But we'll find out," he assured.  
  
"Make it quick," Alex instructed. "Trip, you come with me, maybe your powers aren't as strong as Jen's, but you and Circuit can help me spot things in the evidence." Trip nodded.  
  
With their mission in hand, they all walked out to work, forgetting about Jen for a couple of hours.  
  
*******  
  
The Mistress walked into Jen's room silently. She smiled and walked towards her. Jen kept on sleeping.  
  
The Mistress caressed Jen's forehead. "Good, she's deeply asleep," she said out loud.  
  
"Want me to do it now, ma'am?" a voice asked.  
  
"Yes," she instructed. There was a soft laugh and then The Mistress left the room. Jen was in good hands, the best genetically engineered invisible hands in the world. The mutant touched Jen's forehead, and got into her mind.  
  
*******  
  
Jen was walking alone. She had decided to leave Alex and the designer in the home working on the baby's room and had gone to take a walk. The baby had been born already, and she had also left her with Alex. Inside of her mind, time was under her control too, everything was. She had been pregnant a shorter time than normal, but she could have skipped the pregnancy completely if she had wanted.  
  
She walked around the beach, thinking. The beach was the same beach where she and her friends had landed in the year 2001. She climbed a small cliff. Was it possible the Alex from the outside loved her as much as the one in her mind did? Was it worth leaving everything she had for the uncertain reality?  
  
She just sat there, looking at the ocean, until she felt a presence inside her mind. But it wasn't Trip; it was someone else, more powerful than Trip. She got down from the cliff, but she was feeling it was too late to stop that someone from whatever it was he was doing.  
  
**********  
  
The mutant attacked the house. He was amazed at the reality of it. Most human psychics only maintained the illusion where they were interacting, but this woman had a 360-degree world.  
  
Inside there were three people; the husband, a man he didn't know and a baby. He had entered and took the baby. The man tried to stop him, so he had shot him and killed him. He had gotten out, and blown the house up. He stood there, looking at the flames, with the crying baby in his arm.  
  
"NO!!!" he heard the woman yell behind him. "Who are you? How could you change my fantasy?" she asked angrily.  
  
"I'm a mutant, created with the specific mission of destroying your dream world, and destroying you," he said. Jen looked at him angrily. "I'm here to destroy your dream world in a way that you can never restore it," he informed her, and he shot her with his laser. She escaped the shot, and not seeing her daughter was in the hands of the mutant summoned a blaster and fired. The mutant used the newborn as a shield and it killed her.  
  
"NO!" Jen screamed again, crying. The mutant laughed and threw the baby's dead body to the floor, and then he ran. Jen walked towards her baby and picked her up. The mutant was right, she couldn't bring her back, she couldn't put her house back together, she couldn't bring Alex back. She let the baby's body fall to the floor and ran after the mutant, feeling the cold weight of the recently summoned morpher on her wrist. She was going to get him.  
  
And she did. The mutant stopped moving. He couldn't move she had trapped him. "Who are you?" she asked angrily.  
  
"That's for me to know, and for you to find out," he said. Suddenly, against everything she had thought, he shot her again. This time she couldn't react and avoid the blast. She stood up, hurt, and tried to heal herself. She could. She could still control herself, but not her environment, as if she was in somebody else's mind.  
  
The mutant shot her again, and she cartwheeled to avoid the blast. She ran to him and kicked the blaster out of his hand. "Now it's just you and me," she said. The mutant threw a kick at her but she stopped it.  
  
The mutant wasn't too strong. He looked like one of those aliens she had seen in the 21st century sci-fi movies, tall, thin and really white, with three long fingers on each hand. His head was shaped like an egg, with the thinner side down, as if he had a big brain. He wasn't wearing a robe or a cape like in the movies, but pants and a jacket. The jacket had a logo, it looked somewhat like the Time Force logo, only it was red and black instead of black and silver, and the little symbols around it were different.  
  
She kicked the mutant in the ribs and he fell to the ground. Moving quickly, she took his arm and twisted it behind his back. It was so thin and fragile, she heard it break. "What's that logo from?" she asked. The mutant wailed in pain, but didn't answer. "Who are you?" she asked more angrily, twisting his arm harder. The mutant wailed again.  
  
But, suddenly, he changed. He healed his arm, grew muscles and threw her off his back. Jen fell on her back and saw the mutant, now looking like a gladiator, walking towards her, with a brand new sword. "It's that how you're going to play?" she asked.  
  
"There are no rules for me here!" he said.  
  
"For me either," she informed him. She got up quickly and yelled "Time for Time Force!" She was now morphed into the pink power ranger. She summoned her chrono saber and jumped. "Time strike!" she called and hit the mutant again.  
  
It fell back against a wall, smashing it with his weight. He got up and walked right back at her, apparently not hurt. He kicked her in the ribs, and then, using his telekinesis, picked her up by the neck and lifted her a few feet from the ground. Then he let her fall. "You are going to be destroyed," he growled, as he made pieces of the wall he had smashed fall over her.  
  
Jen was trapped for a second. Then she used her telekinesis to send the pieces back at the mutant, and trapped him. "Are we using our powers in the battle?" she asked. "Well, let's."  
  
The mutant was on his back, his face uncovered. She stared into his eyes, and he suddenly felt a delicious nothingness, he felt like a puppet in her hands. "Show me your true self," she ordered. The mutant's muscles disappeared. He looked again like the weak alien from the sci-fi film. Jen raised him from the ground.  
  
"Power down," she called, and the pink ranger armor left her. "Who are you?" she asked. He wouldn't answer. "Tell me!" she ordered. The mutant, under her control now, started to speak.  
  
"My name is Catgat," he said in a toneless voice. Jen wondered why; she had never seen anything that looked less like a cat. "I am a psychic mutant and I work for The Mistress. My mission is to go inside the Pink Ranger's mind and destroy her. Then, I am to return to the lab, and be destroyed myself."  
  
"Who's The Mistress?"  
  
"I don't know, I have never known her real name."  
  
"Show me her image!" she ordered.  
  
"I can't. I have never seen her."  
  
"How did you enter the hospital?"  
  
"The Mistress brought me in."  
  
"Then you have seen her."  
  
"I haven't. In the real world I'm invisible, and blind. Nobody sees me, and I see nobody," he explained.  
  
"Why me?"  
  
"I was ordered to."  
  
"Yes, but why me?"  
  
"The Mistress' ways are complicated, and her reasons are a mystery to us."  
  
"US?" Jen repeated, disbelieving. "Who is 'us'?"  
  
"The mutants who are happy to work for The Great Lady," Catgat said with a sick smile.  
  
"Were you all created in the lab?"  
  
"Yes."  
  
"Where is it, the lab?"  
  
"I don't know."  
  
"Is the Mistress a mutant?" she asked, she had the feeling the answer was no.  
  
"I don't know," Catgat said. Jen sighed annoyed.  
  
"Is she human? Is she the one who created you?"  
  
"I don't know if she's human," Catgat said. "She creates us, with her aides."  
  
Jen felt there was nothing else that mutant could tell her. "Get out of my mind," she ordered.  
  
"You get out of mine," the mutant said.  
  
Jen smiled at that. It had all happened in his mind, not hers, so her dream life was still there. She went back to her own mind eagerly, but she found everything destroyed. Filled with anger, she got back into Catgat's mind with extreme facility.  
  
"What--?" the mutant asked looking down, he was suddenly rising above the ground again. The pink ranger's Chrono saber suddenly thrust into his abdomen.  
  
"How did you do it?" The pink ranger asked.  
  
"Do what?" the mutant asked, blood running down his chin.  
  
"Destroying my dreams!"  
  
"The same way you are hurting me now," he said. "The same way you got all those answers from me."  
  
"How?"  
  
"I kidnapped you and all your creations into my mind, and destroyed them. Since the changes didn't occur in your mind and under your control, you can't change them back."  
  
So, she hadn't gone to his mind, he had brought him in hers. "I didn't feel it, when you made me leave my mind," she said.  
  
"There were no changes, you couldn't have noticed."  
  
"Thanks for the information," she said. The chrono saber slipped out of his abdomen and stayed there, floating in front of his chest. "I should kill you right here, so you could never go back to your Mistress," she said angrily.  
  
"I beg you to do so," he pleaded.  
  
"No," she said. "You and me, we are both going back to reality. You are going back to your Mistress, and tell her that you failed," she ordered letting him go. "As for what I'm going to do, it's none of your business, but I think it's time for Alex to know who Brynn really is," she said, leaving his mind.  
  
They both got back to reality, the mutant first; he woke up and left quickly, when he heard the footsteps and voices coming towards the room. Jen woke up later, just in time to see her friends come inside her room.  
  
"Jen!" Alex called, hurrying over to her and holding her. "You woke up!"  
  
"I was attacked inside of my mind, by one of The Mistress's mutants."  
  
"Who's The Mistress?" Alex asked.  
  
"Ask Brynn," she answered.  
  
To be continued. 


	13. chapter 13

Chapter 13  
  
"What do you mean you were attacked inside your mind by The Mistress?" Katie asked. "Whoever she is." "A mutant named Catgat played a psychic trick on me," Jen answered, her eyes suddenly filled with tears. "He destroyed my house, and killed Alex and our baby," she told them, finally breaking into tears. Alex held her tight, he knew just how attached to that dream life she was.  
  
"But, how?" Trip asked. "How did he destroy your dream life? Isn't that only under your control?"  
  
"Yes," Jen said. "He brought me to his mind, but since I didn't feel it I brought all my fantasies with me, they were now under his control, and he destroyed everything."  
  
"It's all right, sweetie," Alex told her caressing her hair.  
  
"No it's not!" she said, shaking his hand away. "My life is destroyed; my husband and my child are dead!"  
  
"No they aren't. You don't have a child, and you are not married," Alex reminded her. "Now you are awake, and that's good. Together we will find The Mistress and stop her, before she kills any more children." He took her hand. "Trust in me."  
  
"Yes," Jen agreed, looking in his eyes. "I trust you." He smiled that warm sweet smile Jen loved so much. "But first I have to get out of here," she pointed out.  
  
"Don't worry, we'll take care of that," Katie said, grabbing both Lucas and Trip by the collars of their jackets and pulling them out of the room. They stayed out, spying through the small glass square of the door. However, Jen and Alex felt they had privacy.  
  
"So, are you staying here, or are you going back?" Alex asked.  
  
"I'm staying, I have to stop her," she answered.  
  
"We have to," he corrected, caressing her hair. "You have me now, you always had."  
  
"Did you break up with Brynn?"  
  
"You told me not to."  
  
"Good. There are a few things we need to ask her."  
  
"What things?"  
  
"Later," she said quickly. She looked into his eyes and smiled. "Let's talk about us, for now," she said holding his hand.  
  
"What is there to talk about?"  
  
"Is it true what you said in there? I'm already awake and I'm not going back until I stop The Mistress, so you can tell me the truth."  
  
"I love you," he said simply, caressing the side of her face. "I love you and I don't want to lose you. That's the truth."  
  
"Really? Because I can read your mind, you know?"  
  
"I do, that's why I wouldn't dare to lie to you."  
  
"Good," she said simply, smiling harder. "I love you too, you know?"  
  
"There are a lot of things I know," he commented.  
  
"I didn't mean to break up with you, I wouldn't have if I had known how it felt, I thought you didn't love me anymore."  
  
"Stupid you."  
  
"Indeed."  
  
"Are we making up today, or are we going to keep the small talk until tomorrow?"  
  
"That's up to you," she said.  
  
He raised his eyebrows playfully and put his hands behind her neck. "If that's so," he said and then he kissed her. A long kiss that started soft and tender, and grew to be a passionate and hungry one. He kissed her in that moment with all the love he hadn't given her in the past three years. He kissed her for all those times he hadn't. He kissed her deep, careful, soft, hard, shallow, sensual, giving her all kinds of kisses in one. He gave her three years of kisses in one, and she was happy to receive them.  
  
She kissed him back hungrily. Like a girl who is playing with that beautiful doll at last, after pulling it out of the wrapping paper and the box, when that feels like an eternity, and then finally her doll is free and they can play; and the girl plays for hours, not getting bored, not wanting to ever stop. That's how Jen kissed Alex that afternoon.  
  
They kissed for a long time, and they didn't want it to end. They didn't want to stop, they wanted their lips to stay together forever, but their lungs called for air and they had to break apart, like the girl who was eventually defeated by tiredness and fell asleep holding her doll. Their lips broke apart, but their hearts were still together.  
  
He looked into her eyes, and she smiled. "Now this is a world worth living in," she said.  
  
"It will get so much better," he promised.  
  
And they kissed again.  
  
*******  
  
Outside the door, Katie was holding Trip and Lucas tight against her body. Lucas struggled to get out of her embrace. "Hate to have no romance and be a party pooper," he said. "But we have to get Jen out of this hospital."  
  
"The best we can do is call the doctor, he will come, check her, see she's not depressed and let her go in the morning." Trip said.  
  
"The morning?" Katie complained.  
  
"It's the best they can do," Trip explained.  
  
"Well, that'll do. I think Jen won't notice the night is passing by," Lucas said and they set out to look for the doctor.  
  
*******  
  
"You failed me," she said with her cold voice.  
  
"I'm sorry, Mistress, but she is much stronger than we thought," Catgat whimpered.  
  
"You know what your destiny is, Catgat, don't you?" she asked.  
  
"I-I-I Do, ma'am," the mutant whimpered, scared, crying, frightened.  
  
"This changes everything," The Mistress told her right hand mutant. "We have to move faster, now. First thing first, you have a second chance, Catgat, you and Tatag go to Brynn, and make sure she doesn't tell them anything."  
  
"Yes, ma'am, thank you for your mercy," Catgat said.  
  
"He won't fail this time, ma'am, I assure you," Tatag said.  
  
"He'd better not, because if he does, it will be your responsibility," she said.  
  
Tatag nodded and left, with Catgat. "Now, wimp, you'd better do things right this time," Tatag told Catgat, grasping him by the back of his neck. "Or Else."  
  
*******  
  
Brynn sat at her kitchen table drinking some cocoa. The door bell rang; she went to get it. The door opened and her eyes widened. "What are you doing here?" she asked, frightened. "How did you get here?"  
  
To be continued. 


	14. chapter 14

Chapter 14  
  
"What are you doing here?" Brynn asked again.  
  
The mutant at the door covered her mouth with his hand. "Shhst! Be silent!" he said. He took her further into the house. "Pack a one-night bag, quick!" he ordered.  
  
"Pack a one-night bag? What for?" she asked.  
  
"We don't have time, move!!" he barked.  
  
Brynn did as she was told. She ran into her bedroom and picked up the things she might need, some clothes, clean underwear and her toothbrush. She ran back to the living room, and found the mutant was accompanied by one of her shopping friends.  
  
"Nadira?" she asked surprised. Nadira nodded.  
  
"Daddy will take you to a safe place; we think The Mistress might." Nadira was interrupted by a blast.  
  
Bits of the door blew in. There was a cloud of dust and the lights went out. "Brynn!" Ransik called. He was hit across the jaw and sent skidding against a wall.  
  
"Daddy!" Nadira called out.  
  
Through the smoke, a tall figure could be seen. It was bigger than a human man, had lots of muscles and stomped around, destroying everything he could. "Here she is, Catgat," he said, he had a deep voice, almost like a growl when he was standing in front of Brynn. He seemed to know who he was talking to, but there was no one else to be seen.  
  
Nadira grabbed Brynn's hand and tried to pull her away from the danger, but the huge monster grabbed their wrists and broke their hold. They both yelled in pain when their wrists broke.  
  
"Nadira!" Ransik called out, firing an energy ball to the monster. He turned around, letting Nadira fall to the floor but still holding Brynn by the broken wrist. She hung from his grasp like a rag doll.  
  
"Stay out of this!" the Monster said and shot Ransik.  
  
"Daddy!" Nadira called. There was no answer.  
  
The monster took Brynn with him to the kitchen and laid her on the table. "Do it quickly!" he ordered, apparently to no one again. Nadira crawled to the kitchen door frame and watched.  
  
"Move away," said a small, cowardly voice that came from thin air. The big guy did as he was told. Suddenly, Brynn started to writhe. She twisted, arched her back and then started screaming at the top of her lungs. She screamed loud, bending her back so much Nadira thought it was going to break. She seemed to be in a lot of pain, and Nadira was sure she was.  
  
Everyone was in great pain when their minds were being scrambled.  
  
*******  
  
Jen was breathing heavily. She moved around on the bed for a little while. Finally, she woke up with a start and sat up.  
  
Alex was asleep on the chair.  
  
She breathed heavily again. She had been dreaming about being in her Time Force office, checking on some files. Those files had been thoughts she had received from other people, information she had kept locked up.  
  
Not all the thoughts she had received she was aware of, and some of them she had even classified as imagination; most of these were thoughts she had received before she knew about her powers, when these were latent.  
  
She had found an incident she had almost forgotten. It had happened during the debriefing of the Ransik mission, Mrs. Drake had looked at her with hate, but there had been also a gleam of triumph in her eyes.  
  
Mister Drake, Alex's father, worked in the Time Force headquarters because as owner of the company, he was the highest ranking officer in it; and Mrs. Drake visited a lot. Usually Jen avoided her, but sometimes it was impossible, like in the Ransik mission debriefing, and in his trial.  
  
Mrs. Drake had sat next to her husband, and Jen had felt her disapproving look on her all along. She had received the woman's thoughts back then, but she had discarded them as products of her imagination.  
  
Alex's mother had been thinking such things about her that Jen didn't dare to repeat them, not even in her mind. That woman hated her, and wanted to destroy her. Still, that hate wasn't what hurt her the most. It had been those thoughts of triumph she had had about them. They were no longer together, and Alex's mother thought of that as a triumph, as something to be happy about, despite her son's misery. That happiness at getting rid of her was what hurt Jen the most.  
  
Tears ran down her cheeks. She didn't have a mother, her mother had died of a disease when she was younger; and she had always thought of her husband's mother as a substitute for her own, she always imagined the moment when she was going to meet Alex's mother, and when that moment came she was excited and nervous. But the lady hadn't even given her a chance. She had despised her, and looked down at her from the very first moment, making fun about her family traditions, and calling her 'Farm girl'.  
  
The woman she had expected to substitute as her loving, caring mother had thrown wine on her dress and made fun of her and made disapproving remarks about her every chance she could.  
  
Jen knew that if she and Alex were going to get married she couldn't count on that woman's support or blessing, and that hurt her more than anyone else knew. Not even Alex knew how much his mother's disapproval hurt her.  
  
She looked at Alex with a single tear running down her cheek; he was so peaceful and calm. His face got a creepy look every time it got hit by the lights of the ambulance signal. The alarm volume increased, and suddenly, like a tidal wave, the bunch of thoughts hit her, so hard she started wailing, as if a migraine had hit her. Her head felt as if she had been hit by a baseball bat, and she was feeling so many things at once, she decided to keep the physical pain until she could control the rest of the thoughts that went through her head.  
  
Her eyes were closed as she grasped her head with both hands, and wailed. She felt a hand on her shoulder, she had woken Alex up.  
  
"Jen are you all right?" he asked. She just wailed. "JEN!" he called out.  
  
"It's an emergency, they were attacked! So many thoughts, so many feelings, so much pain!!" she said through her wails. He laid her back against the pillow and caressed her forehead and hair, finally leaning to kiss her forehead softly. "Thank you," she whispered.  
  
"Who's been attacked?" he asked softly.  
  
"I don't know yet, the people they brought in, their minds are fuzzy, I-I don't know yet."  
  
"It's ok. We'll wait a few minutes." And so they did.  
  
After a few minutes, when Jen's pain had gone away and she managed to make sense out of everything that had gone through her, he kissed her lips softly. "Are you feeling better now?"  
  
She nodded. "Alex, the others were too late," she said.  
  
Alex swallowed hard. They had sent Lucas, Katie and Trip for Brynn, and they hadn't gotten back yet. "Are you sure?" he asked. She nodded.  
  
"Downstairs, it's Brynn. She's here with two other people--" she closed her eyes, trying to focus on the thoughts; she sucked in a sharp breath a moment later. "It's Ransik and Nadira, Alex!! It's them, down there with Brynn; they tried to save her."  
  
"Is Brynn dead?" Alex asked.  
  
"No, she's even worse," Jen said.  
  
*******  
  
"Damn it!" Lucas yelled, hitting a wall with his fist. Katie grabbed him and pulled him away, before he continued to hurt himself. "We were too late!" he yelled.  
  
"And how is hurting ourselves and yelling at everybody going to make things better?" Katie asked.  
  
"And Ransik and Nadira are hurt too! It's not just Brynn!!"  
  
"Look, let's go upstairs and talk to Jen, maybe she knows something," Trip suggested. The other two nodded.  
  
As they headed for the stairs they walked in front of Ransik, Nadira and Brynn who where waiting to be attended. Ransik was unconscious, Nadira was crying softly, clutching her arm, and Brynn was lying there, her face covered in tears and blood that came out of her nose, her eyes staring blankly at the ceiling. The three Time Force rangers looked away from them and climbed the stairs to Jen's room.  
  
As they were arriving, they saw Alex coming out. "She felt it," he informed them. "When they got here, she wanted me to go and check on Brynn. Do you have anything to tell her that might calm her down?"  
  
"I have a question to ask her," Lucas said angrily. "What's the interest she has in Brynn?" Alex shook his head and walked past them, heading to the emergency room.  
  
The other three entered Jen's room, she was sitting next to the window, the light of the ambulance still filling the room with its nasty red color, but now it was less creepy with the room's light on.  
  
"Jen?" She turned around.  
  
"Guys!" she exclaimed running to them. "I wondered if you were ok," she said.  
  
"What did you feel?"  
  
"Not much, just confusion and pain, from Brynn I barely got anything and nothing of what we need to know."  
  
"And that is?"  
  
"Everything she knows about The Mistress."  
  
"The Mistress? What does Brynn have to do with The Mistress?"  
  
"She works for her, she's been stealing files from Alex and she's been selling them to the mutants."  
  
"To The Mistress's mutants?"  
  
"I don't know," Jen said, looking away, out the window. "But I just picked something else, this is from Ransik." The others held their breath, literally. "He knows about The Mistress, not much, but he knows something. I have to ask him," she said, getting up and walking towards the door. Katie grabbed her arm.  
  
"Who said you could walk around the hospital?" the black girl asked.  
  
"Nobody will see me," Jen said simply.  
  
"Now you can turn yourself invisible?" Lucas asked.  
  
"No, but I can make them forget me."  
  
Jen opened the door, and walked out of the room followed by her faithful team, who apparently would follow her if she jumped off a cliff with a fairly good reason. "Where to?" she asked.  
  
"Straight to the front, you'll find the stairs."  
  
"Thanks," she said.  
  
They walked past the nurses' lobby, and the one in charge didn't look up. "Interesting soap," Jen commented.  
  
"Since when can you control minds?" Trip asked.  
  
"A couple of weeks ago. But I'm still having problems with it, so I prefer post-hypnotic suggestion," she answered matter-of-factly.  
  
"So, instead of depriving people of their will, you just hypnotized them and.?" Katie asked, leaving the end hanging.  
  
"Change their minds," Jen said, starting down the stairs.  
  
"Have you done that with us?"  
  
"Not intentionally, but I have the feeling that's the reason you all followed me to the year 2001 and made me the leader of the team." A shudder ran over the other three. "You know I would never make you guys do anything embarrassing or bad, I'm not that kind of people and you are my friends," she assured.  
  
"Well." Lucas whispered.  
  
"Now, would you hurry up?" the brunette urged.  
  
The other followed, and, just as she had promised, nobody told her off for wandering around the hospital so late. She even asked a nurse where Ransik was, and the nurse pointed the direction without asking any questions.  
  
"What did you tell her?" Katie asked when she saw the nurse's reaction.  
  
"I told her the truth," Jen answered. "That I'm with Time Force and this is my case," the others nodded and followed her to Ransik's cubicle.  
  
He was lying on a bed, looking human and still unconscious. Jen dared to think he even looked vulnerable. Nadira was sitting next to him, holding his hand, Jen smiled at the gesture of love.  
  
"Nadira," Lucas said, caressing her hair, she had her arm plastered in pink that matched her hair color.  
  
She looked up at him. "Is he going to be ok?" she asked.  
  
"Yes, he will," Jen said encouragingly. She sat next to Ransik and took his hand. "I'm bringing him back," she announced.  
  
"You are? Really?" Nadira asked happily.  
  
"Yes, we need him to tell us everything he knows about The Mistress," Jen said.  
  
"Don't bother," Nadira announced. They all looked at her. "The only thing he knows about The Mistress, is that she's my mother."  
  
To be continued. 


	15. chapter 15

Chapter 15  
  
"What do you mean The Mistress is your mother?!" Jen asked.  
  
"Mutants don't consider their parents the same way humans do," Lucas explained. "Dash told me once."  
  
"Right, Lucas," Nadira said. "When I say she's my mother, I mean she's the one who bred me."  
  
"Bred you? Aren't mutants the product of accidents?" Trip asked.  
  
"Some of them," Nadira said. "But there are way too many scientists playing around with genes, they play, they create mutants who don't match their theory and they leave them to die in a sewer; then they go around saying Time Force should work harder to put all mutants under control, but they don't stop making them."  
  
"There are scientists creating mutants?" Jen asked.  
  
"Yes," Nadira said, a bit angry. "Human scientists. There was this one who tried to make humans breathe underwater, so he added a couple of fish genes to the 'DNA recipe', and there you go! He created Fat Catfish."  
  
The Rangers looked at each other. "Nadira, do you happen to have any names, by any chance?" Jen asked.  
  
"Names?"  
  
"Yes, of the scientists, I have the feeling these are unregistered experiments, so they are illegal. If you have any names, you can tell us and we can stop them."  
  
"No, Jen, sorry," Nadira said sadly. "I don't have any names, but perhaps Daddy."  
  
Jen nodded. She took Ransik's hand again. Since he had stopped the Mutorgs he looked like a human, but he was still a mutant, he still could fire energy balls, but he no longer could pull weapons out of his body, for which Jen, and the rest of the Time Force, were very glad. She was focusing on entering his mind, when somebody opened the door to the cubicle. It was Alex.  
  
"Whatever it is you are doing with Ransik, I think you might want to take a look at Brynn first," he said. Jen stood up, ready to leave, when she was stopped by a hand that grabbed her arm.  
  
"It's not safe, Jen," Nadira warned.  
  
"Why not?"  
  
"Her mind has been scrambled, you might get lost in there forever."  
  
"Her mind has been scrambled?" Jen repeated.  
  
"Yes, I saw it, but I couldn't help her."  
  
"Why not?"  
  
"Because I couldn't see who was attacking her."  
  
"Were they doing it from afar?" Lucas asked Jen. She shrugged.  
  
"No," Nadira said. "He was there, he talked but I couldn't see him."  
  
"Catgat," Jen said softly, suddenly understanding.  
  
"Who?"  
  
"Catgat," she repeated louder. "The psychic mutant who attacked me in my mind," she explained. "He said he was invisible and blind in the real world."  
  
"I think Tatag could see him."  
  
"Who's Tatag?" Jen asked.  
  
"The other mutant," Nadira said. "He's worked for the Mistress for years, in fact he was the one who delivered me to dad," she said.  
  
"Tatag? Catgat?" Alex repeated. "It's an awful lot of a's, g's and t's."  
  
"Later," Jen told him off. "If you think it's not safe for me to enter Brynn's mind, I won't," she told Nadira. "Alex, I honestly think waking Ransik up is priority, because he has valuable information, and valuable informants."  
  
"Informants?"  
  
"Yes, he knew about the attack on Brynn, didn't he? He must have an insider," Jen said.  
  
"Right, wake him up," Alex authorized. He turned to Katie and Lucas. "Did you find out anything on those posed bodies?"  
  
"Not yet," she said. "But we found the bodies of the kindergarten children, and they were posed as well."  
  
"Posed to look like what?" Jen asked.  
  
"That's what we are trying to find out, Jen," the black girl said.  
  
"Any ideas?"  
  
"No, Alex, only questions," she said. "Why are they feeding on children, and what do these children have in common, why have they been fed to these mutants, why them and not others? Why not adults?"  
  
"The building they attacked is inhabited mostly by scientists," Trip remembered. "Maybe that's it."  
  
"I think that's only part of it, Trip. But it might be a start," Jen said, looking at Alex.  
  
"Ok, stay here, doing your thing," he said. "We'll go to the office and bring you the case file."  
  
"No need, I'm getting out tomorrow."  
  
"How? I thought you were going to be left in for observation, because of the OD."  
  
"Now I'm no longer depressed, am I?" she asked smiling and kissing his lips softly. "I'll take care of the doctor, and leave tomorrow, for now go to sleep, if we don't rest we can't think." The others nodded.  
  
"I'll stay with you," Alex said. "Just in case."  
  
"Ok, you guys go to sleep, please," she insisted.  
  
"Let's go," Katie said. "Come on, Trip, I'll give you a ride."  
  
"Nadira, are you staying here?" Lucas asked.  
  
"Of course," she answered.  
  
"Then I'll stay with you. Come on, let's get something to drink," he invited. Nadira looked at Jen, who smiled softly.  
  
"He'll be alright, I promise, try to get some sleep, you too." Nadira left with Lucas and Trip with Katie.  
  
Jen sat on the chair Nadira had left and took Ransik's hand. She looked up at Alex. "Whatever happens don't shake me or wake me up."  
  
"I know."  
  
"I love you," she said.  
  
"And I love you," he answered, kissing her softly.  
  
She closed her eyes, and entered into Ransik's mind.  
  
********  
  
It was dark and cold. She walked, hearing voices, lots of voices. Some of them laughed, some of them menaced, some of them screamed, scared. She saw a light and walked to it. She saw herself telling Ransik: "Come and GET me!"  
  
"Time Ranger?" she heard Ransik ask. She turned around, he was sitting on the floor, dressed in rags, and covering his face. "Please help me, don't run away, don't run please!"  
  
"It's ok, Ransik, I won't run," she assured him. "I'm here to help you, you have to come with me," she told him.  
  
"NO, I-I can't," he said.  
  
"Why not?"  
  
"The Mistress, she'll kill me!"  
  
"Who's The Mistress?" Jen asked.  
  
"Someone powerful, someone very powerful."  
  
"Who is she? Do you know her name?"  
  
"Nobody does," he said. "She's always covered, she's always lying, you can never know. what's true and what's not.The Mistress knows it all, and she's always lying! ALWAYS!!"  
  
"All right, Ransik, calm down," she said. The mutant was really scared. "I'm not going to hurt you or let anyone hurt you," she assured him, stretching her hand. He hesitated for a few seconds, and then he took it.  
  
"Save me!" he said.  
  
"Don't worry, Ransik, Come with me," she said.  
  
"The Mistress is after me, she's after me," he kept saying.  
  
"Don't worry; she won't be able to hurt you while you are with us," she said, patting his hand. "Go this way." She pointed to the front. "You'll get out of here, you'll wake up, and then we'll talk, okay?"  
  
"Okay," he said and walked.  
  
She got out. He woke up.  
  
*******  
  
"The Mistress is after me," Ransik growled.  
  
"Why?" Alex asked.  
  
"She wants Nadira back."  
  
"Ransik," Jen started. "How much do you know about The Mistress?"  
  
"More than I should," he said, shaking his head. "I know more about her than she thinks."  
  
"Can you tell us anything?"  
  
"No," he said. "That's out of the question."  
  
"Why not?" Alex asked.  
  
"Because she'll know he knows," Jen said. "The only mutant willing to tell us this kind of information is him."  
  
"Right," Ransik said.  
  
"So, what do we do now?" Alex asked.  
  
"We go to sleep," she said. "And next time we see Tatag or Catgat, you make sure to capture one of them and I'll do the rest."  
  
They left when Nadira and Lucas got back. They got to Jen's room upstairs, and she got into bed. "I'm tired," she said.  
  
He sat next to her on the bed. "You must be, get some sleep, but not too much."  
  
"I would never get too much sleep now," she said, wrapping her arms around his neck. They kissed for a long time.  
  
"I love you," he said.  
  
"I love you too," Jen said. She lay back on the bed. "Get some sleep."  
  
Alex lay on the couch and stared at the ceiling. He soon felt his eyelids falling heavily over his eyes and fell asleep.  
  
Jen smiled in the dark. Now she had made herself sure Alex was asleep, she was free to think about the case all night long. She closed her eyes, and focused on her new challenge. She started to review things backwards, starting with Ransik.  
  
If he knows something more than we think about The Mistress, and that something's got anything to do with Nadira, then he won't tell. Especially if telling us puts Nadira in danger. But what is it he knows about her that he can't tell us? Does he know who she is? No. I have the feeling there's something else, something deeper.  
  
Then she went on to the children.  
  
What's so special about those children? Why them and not other children? Then again, why not adults? Does their parents' profession have anything to do with it?  
  
Finally, before she fell asleep, she thought of the most important questions: Who's The Mistress? And why did she attack ME?  
  
To be continued. 


	16. chapter 16

Chapter 16  
  
The Rangers were all sitting together in Alex's office. Jen was sitting next to him, holding his hand, and the others were sitting there silently; staring at the floor or the ceiling, but not at Alex.  
  
"We lost another three children," he announced. Jen put her hand on his shoulder; he seemed ready to give up. "One of the mothers told me, to my face, that I was completely useless and that there was nothing we could do about The Mistress. She seemed ready to shot me," he commented.  
  
"Alex, we are doing as much as we can, but she's fast, and she's very good at what she's doing," Katie said.  
  
"Let's try to get organized," Jen suggested. Alex looked at her, his eyes were dark. "Let's go back to the beginning, let's try to see what we didn't see before," she said brightly.  
  
"All right," Lucas agreed. "Here," he started, turning on the screen on the middle of the table, "are the pictures of the posed skeletons, we have taken the positional vectors from these pictures, we are trying to match them to any image that can help us. Right now, we are trying against art pieces."  
  
"No," Jen said. "Art has got nothing to do with this; it has to be a scene the people who were going to see this felt familiar with."  
  
"Family pictures," Lucas said.  
  
"Not just family, all pictures in that house, try to match them," she suggested, looking at Alex again, worried. He looked up at her and gave her a sad smile. She kissed his cheek. "Something wrong?" she asked.  
  
"No," he said. "You take care of your unit for now, I'll go and get some fresh air." He stood up and walked towards the balcony.  
  
Jen turned back to her friends and said, "Anything else?"  
  
"No," Trip said softly, but he seemed hesitant.  
  
"What is it?"  
  
"The names of the mutants," he said softly.  
  
"You think we can get anything from them?" He shrugged.  
  
Jen cleared the screen and typed the names: C A T G A T & T A T A G  
  
"All right?" she said. "Ideas?"  
  
"Well," Trip started. "I've been thinking about it..."  
  
*********  
  
Alex walked out to the balcony and took a deep breath. He didn't want to tell Jen what was wrong; he feared she get sad and suicidal again. What was bothering him was the way Brynn had looked when he had visited her that morning at the Psychiatric Hospital. She had looked awfully sick, pale and crazy; not like the girl he had dated months ago. He hadn't loved her, really, but he had liked her, and now she was crazy, because of him.  
  
He had left her alone when she had been in danger, and now she was worse than dead, she wasn't even a person anymore. Brynn was an animal, a caged one. She had been crouched in a corner of the room, pulling her hair, and crying while she looked at the ceiling, she made no sense at all, and didn't seem to recognize him.  
  
When he had met Brynn at the coffee shop, he had picked her as the best possible candidate to make Jen jealous. She was so beautiful physically, and she wasn't such a bad person. He hadn't known the danger he was putting her in when he chose her, he just wanted to use her to make Jen jealous for a couple of months. And now she was.  
  
He left the phrase hanging in his mind; he didn't know what Brynn was now, he just didn't. He wondered what Jen wanted with Brynn, when she had asked him not to break up with her, and he also wondered what Brynn had to do with The Mistress.  
  
He heard footsteps behind him, and turned around. It was Jen, her eyes were tearful. "Have you been reading my mind?" he asked, looking away from her.  
  
"You've been broadcasting, actually," she said.  
  
"Jen, honey, I--" he began; she put a hand on his lips.  
  
"Shhh! It's okay, baby," she said. "Nothing's wrong."  
  
"It's just--"  
  
"I know, Alex."  
  
"What did you--?"  
  
"She was selling files to the mutants, honey. She was stealing files from your computer, and selling them to The Mistress."  
  
"She what?!" he asked, surprised. "Jen, if she did, then we are in serious trouble, she probably stole files that contained the design of the new weapons we have been preparing for you guys."  
  
"That's probably it," she said. "Then it is bad, but it's also good," she told him.  
  
"How?"  
  
"Alex, use your brain!!" she said, suddenly annoyed. "You are one of the best strategists we have here on the force!!"  
  
"All right," he said. He looked away for a few minutes and then looked back at her. "They will move so they can test our strategies, they will avoid the strategies we have."  
  
"Right," she said. "Let's go back to the office, and check the evidence we have."  
  
"Let's go," he said. He took her hand, and looked at her eyes, smiling. "Jen," he started.  
  
She looked at him. "Don't read my mind," he complained, she chuckled. "Before we go in there, I want to ask you something."  
  
"Yes?"  
  
"Will you marry me?" he asked. She smiled broadly and jumped to him, wrapping her arms around his neck.  
  
"Oh, yes, I will!!" she whispered in his ear.  
  
They looked at each other and did what they hadn't done the first time they got engaged; they kissed.  
  
*******  
  
"Jen," Trip said when they got back in. "I have a list of all the children and their parents, including the three new cases."  
  
"And?"  
  
"Not all of them are scientists' children," he said. "Now, that would have discouraged anyone else, but I kept looking."  
  
"And?" Alex asked.  
  
"ALL of them are GRANDCHILDREN to scientists," he informed them.  
  
"Really?"  
  
"Yeah, see, here," he said, showing her a list.  
  
"Very good," she said.  
  
"Not quite," Trip said.  
  
"Why?"  
  
"All these scientists worked together on a project many years ago, it involved genetic manipulation," he said.  
  
"That's no surprise."  
  
"The project was shut down, when all of them became suspected of creating mutants, and leaving them, like Nadira said. Unregistered and undocumented research."  
  
"Trip, would you please leave the mystery for later?"  
  
"Ok," he took a deep breath, "There were fifteen members on the research team. Now, whoever The Mistress is she is taking these people's grandchildren, and she has already taken fourteen of them."  
  
"But they ate a pair of twins," Katie noted. "That can't be right."  
  
"It's quite simple; both grandparents were members of the team, one twin for each one of them."  
  
"Please, keep going," Jen said, holding Alex's hand tightly.  
  
"Ok, the fifteenth member of the team doesn't have any grandchildren yet, only a grown son," he said.  
  
"Who is it? We have to assume they are going after him if your theory is right, it won't matter that he's not a child," Alex urged.  
  
"It's you," Trip said simply. "Your mother was the fifteenth member of this research team, and she was the one leading it."  
  
to be continued. 


	17. Chapter 17

Chapter 17  
  
"I'm scared," Jen admitted. Alex kissed her shoulder.  
  
"Hey, it's ok," he assured her, wrapping his arms tighter around her. She shuddered and he caressed her hair. "I'm telling you I'll be fine," he insisted.  
  
"I can't help it," she said. "I've seen you die once, and I don't want to lose you again."  
  
"You won't," he assured her. She turned her head and they kissed softly. "Now, go to sleep."  
  
"I can't believe you actually asked me to do that!" she said playfully. They both broke into a laugh.  
  
*******  
  
"My plan is almost complete," The Mistress said. "Now I only need bait."  
  
"What will you use as bait?" Tatag asked.  
  
"Something none of my mutants can digest," she answered.  
  
*******  
  
The next day, they were all once again seated in their meeting room. They heard hurried steps in the corridor and the door slammed open.  
  
"Guys, good news!" Lucas said happily, entering their meeting room, in Alex's office.  
  
"What is it?" Jen asked.  
  
"We processed the children's bodies, and we found saliva on them!"  
  
"Did it match any mutant we know?" Alex asked.  
  
"No."  
  
"So, now we know there are more mutants than we think," he said.  
  
"Please, tell me you didn't think Tatag and Catgat were the Mistress's only mutants!" Katie said.  
  
"Well, he did have reasons to think that, Katie," Jen commented. "When Catgat attacked my mind, he said something about destroying me and then returning to the base to be destroyed, and I told Alex."  
  
"You think she does destroy them?" Trip asked. "Because if she does, then she's even worse than we thought."  
  
"I don't know, Trip."  
  
"Anyway, the DNA has a peculiarity," Lucas announced, getting everyone's attention back. "The DNA chain's tail is exactly the same for all of them."  
  
"It is?"  
  
"Yes. Here it is, the last twelve nucleotides, they go like this: G- T- A- C- A- T- T- A- G- G- A- T." Lucas informed them.  
  
Jen, Alex and Trip all stayed very quite for a moment and then. "I'VE GOT IT!!" they all said at once.  
  
"What?" Lucas and Katie asked back.  
  
"The mutants' names," Trip said. "They are parts of their DNA chains that look like words."  
  
"Lots of A's, G's and T's," Katie added, smiling.  
  
"I've got something else," Jen said. "How many different subjects have we got?"  
  
"Eight."  
  
"Then I'm right," she said. "What can we say if we have eight different subjects from the same gang that have the same DNA tail?"  
  
"That they've been engineered," Katie suggested.  
  
Jen nodded. "Yes, and they've been bred by someone with a big ego. I bet that DNA tail has no function for the mutants, but it does have one for the person who created them; probably power's that person favorite thing about herself."  
  
"Herself?"  
  
"Yes, she is The Mistress; I don't think a man would like to pass as a woman, besides if she is this egocentric, then she wants everyone to know it's a woman controlling all these mutants and doing all this damage."  
  
"Are you suggesting this is a signature?" Alex said; his face was suddenly dark.  
  
"Yes," she answered. "Baby, what's wrong?"  
  
"It's impossible for two people to have the same DNA naturally," he said. "I was engineered gene by gene, chromosome by chromosome, nucleotide by nucleotide to be like my father's greatest hero, Wesley Collins," he told them.  
  
"But, why? I mean, Ransik--"  
  
"Don't you see? Ransik didn't change history; he did what he was supposed to do, he went back in time and provoked the creation of the Silver Guardians."  
  
"Where are you going?" Jen asked.  
  
"My mother, who is a genetic engineer, designed my DNA precisely," he said. "She changed a few things from Wes's original chain but ninety-five percent of my DNA matches Wesley Collins's completely."  
  
"I still don't get it."  
  
"The five percent of my DNA that doesn't match Wes's was designed by my mother, that's the head and the tail of my chain," He took a deep breath. "My DNA chain starts with G- T- A- C- A- T and ends with T- A- G- G- A- T."  
  
"That's the signature."  
  
"Yes," he said. "Do you think my mother's got anything to do with this?"  
  
"I don't think so," Jen said. "But someone who worked with her in that project does, and maybe that's the project signature, it happens often."  
  
"Maybe," he said. He didn't sound convinced. "Trip, you had something else to say?"  
  
"No, just that the mutants' names aren't Catgat and Tatag, they are called Cytosine-Adenine-Thymine-Guanine-Adenine-Thymine, and."  
  
"We got it," Lucas said, putting his hand on Trip's shoulder.  
  
"So we have a DNA partial," Katie said.  
  
"It's too small to get anything out of it."  
  
"We'll run the signature and try to match it to someone," Lucas said.  
  
"Did you get anything regarding the posed bodies?" Jen asked.  
  
"We got a couple of matches, both improbable," Katie said.  
  
"We are missing something, and it's something big," Alex said seriously.  
  
********  
  
"Daddy, do you think she will try to get me back for something else? I mean something evil?" Nadira asked.  
  
"I hope not, Nadira," Ransik answered, holding his daughter's skinny hand. They both sat outside Time Force headquarters, waiting for the Rangers to come out.  
  
"There they are," Nadira said, pointing at them.  
  
"Let's go," he said, and they walked towards the group. "Time Rangers!" Ransik called. They all looked.  
  
"Ransik!" Jen said, surprised. "Is everything okay?"  
  
"No, it isn't."  
  
"What's wrong?"  
  
"The Mistress wants Nadira, and she's after us. In that case, I want somebody else to know everything I know about her."  
  
"Okay, let's find a place where we can talk," Alex said.  
  
"No," Ransik said. "I want her as my confidant," Ransik said, pointing at Jen. "I want to talk to her in private."  
  
"Not possible," Alex answered sternly.  
  
"I'll go," Jen said. "If he tries anything stupid, I'll send him flying against the closest brick wall," she told Alex, and then she turned to Ransik. "Not minding really how many other things he has to go through to get there."  
  
They both walked away from the group, and the rest stood there, surrounding Nadira. She noticed this, and not without a bit of annoyance she said, "I'm going to be fine."  
  
"We don't know that," Lucas said. She rolled her eyes.  
  
"Do you know what he's going to tell her?" Alex asked.  
  
"No," she said. "He wouldn't tell me anything,"  
  
There was an awkward silence. And then, there was the flash of a laser shot, followed by a blast and a scream. And last, Nadira lay on the floor, unmoving.  
  
To be continued.. 


	18. chapter 18

Chapter 18  
  
"What was that?" Alex said.  
  
"NADIRA!!" Lucas yelled, kneeling next to her. She was just stunned, not dead. A dark figure ran to them and kicked them all out of the way, picking Nadira up and running away from them.  
  
However, he was stopped by a falling tree. Nadira flew away from his arms, and landed next to Lucas. They distinctly saw Jen and Ransik moving towards the mutant. There was a pink flash, and Jen became the pink Time Force Ranger. Ransik ran towards the others.  
  
"Go, help her, I'll take care of Nadira," he said. The others ran.  
  
Alex stayed with Ransik. The others went to help Jen, morphing on the way. Ransik and Alex watched the fight from afar, and were so focused on it they didn't sense what was coming. They both fell to the floor next to Nadira and knew no more.  
  
Jen and the other three Rangers fought the monster bravely, but he was way too strong. "Call the V weapons!" Jen ordered, and they did. "Form the cannon!" she ordered.  
  
"Fire!" they all yelled, but the mutant deflected the blast and they all got hit by it.  
  
"I'll take care of our new friend!" Jen said, and focused on the mutant, making him take off from the ground. The mutant shot her, but Lucas protected Jen by changing the course of the blast with his saber. Jen smiled at him behind her helmet, and returned her attention to the mutant.  
  
Easy now, she ordered his mind. I'll make all the decisions from now on, is that okay?  
  
"Yes," the mutant said out loud, his voice toneless.  
  
"Good," Jen told him.  
  
Now, I'm going to put you on the ground, and you are coming with us, quietly, she ordered. She put the mutant on the ground, and he just stood there, doing nothing.  
  
"Come with us," she ordered. He did, approaching them. "Take samples from him."  
  
"Aren't we going to arrest him?" Katie asked.  
  
"No, The Mistress can't know this plan failed, I need him to go back to her, so we can find her," Jen said. "Now, take samples from him, let's see if he's got anything to do with this."  
  
Trip and Circuit picked different samples from the mutant's body, while Jen dedicated herself to its mind. "Who are you working for?" she asked him.  
  
"The Mistress."  
  
"Who is she? What's her name?"  
  
"I don't know."  
  
"Why are you working for her? What is she giving you?"  
  
"Because she's my mother."  
  
"She bred you?"  
  
"Personally," the mutant said this with a sick smile.  
  
"You are proud of that, aren't you?" she asked. The mutant nodded, smiling.  
  
"What do you want Nadira for?"  
  
"The Mistress wants her, I don't know what for."  
  
"Alex!" Jen called. There was no answer. "Alex!!" She called louder. Again no answer. She turned around and looked for him, but couldn't see him. "ALEX!!" she called him louder, getting really scared. She didn't care about the mutant now; all that mattered was finding her beloved Alex.  
  
"JEN!" Lucas yelled suddenly. "LOOK OUT!!"  
  
She didn't have time to turn around, because she felt the blast hit her on the back, forcing her to demorph. She lay there, barely breathing, her back burnt and her head dizzy. She looked up and saw the mutant running away. "No," she whispered. She tried to follow him with her mind, but she lost him half way, when she fainted.  
  
Katie ran to Trip and picked him up; he had fainted too, but didn't seem to be in any real danger. Lucas had picked Jen up, she had fainted, and she seemed to be hurt, but not too bad.  
  
"Let's take these two to the hospital," Katie said.  
  
Lucas was looking at the spot where Ransik and Alex had been standing next to Nadira, now there was just Ransik's body, lying on the ground.  
  
"Katie, they have Nadira," he told Katie. She looked up from Trip and fixed her stare on Ransik's body.  
  
"And they also took Alex," she said, looking at Jen. "Lucas, now what?"  
  
"Now we hope Jen doesn't lose it," he started. "For The Mistress's sake."  
  
*********  
  
Jen opened her eyes and looked around. The Time Force Headquarters building shone under the lights of the reflectors that pointed at it. "What happened?" she asked no one in particular.  
  
"Hey, you okay?" Alex asked her.  
  
She smiled. "Yes, I'm fine," she answered.  
  
He smiled back, but not sweetly, he smiled evilly at her. "Then I guess we will have to do something about that," he said, pulling out a knife.  
  
Jen looked into his eyes through the tears that clouded her own. He thrust the knife into her so quickly she could barely see him move, and she screamed, hurt physically and emotionally.  
  
*******  
  
Jen screamed loudly, and the paramedics held her down against the floor. She was writhing and screaming, as if she was caught in a nightmare.  
  
**********  
  
"Why?" she asked, crying. "Are you under some kind of spell?"  
  
"A spell?" he repeated, amused. "No, this is the moment I've been waiting a long time for, the day I get to hurt you the way you hurt me."  
  
"What?"  
  
"You heard me," he said. "This is the moment we've been waiting for, tomorrow morning, one of us will be dead, slaughtered, and I'll give you a hint, it won't be me."  
  
She shook her head 'no' and got up, trying to make a run for it, but she was hurt, and he was fast. He locked her in his arms, putting one of the strong arms she loved so much around her neck, trying to strangle her.  
  
"Alex, baby, I love you; don't you love me?" she asked through gasps of breath.  
  
"Love you? Maybe I did once, but not anymore," he answered, his voice filled with rage.  
  
"It's not true, this can't be true," she kept saying as she felt his grip grow stronger around her neck.  
  
"It is," he said. "And you are going down with me, baby," He stabbed her again, in her side. She cried out in pain.  
  
Suddenly she felt a sting on her arm. A sting that couldn't be produced by anything near them, and it came to her, the truth. Her new enemy was much stronger than Catgat and was much more determined to destroy her in her own mind.  
  
She had to make a run for it, towards reality.  
  
To be continued. 


	19. Chapter 19

Chapter 19  
  
Jen healed herself, the moment she discovered she was trapped in an illusion inside her mind, or inside some sick mutant's mind. She kicked the fake Alex in the ribs and ran as fast as her legs could carry her.  
  
"Where are you going Jen? Don't you know you can't run from me?" she heard the fake Alex ask. "Let me destroy you, that way my mistress will be pleased. She has wanted to destroy you for a long time!"  
  
"Why me?" she asked, frightened. She stopped running, she was lost and, for the first time since she had found her new control on her subconscious mind, she was truly terrified.  
  
"Because you are a stone in her shoe," he said. "It's got nothing to do with work, what she holds against you is a bit more personal."  
  
"Personal?" Jen asked. She looked at Alex's face, her lips trembling. "So what Ransik told us is true! He really knows who The Mistress is!!"  
  
****************  
  
Alex and Nadira were both locked in a cell. It was dark, cold and subterranean, Alex had a hunch it was the cell where all the stolen children had been locked, before they died.  
  
"Alex?" Nadira called him.  
  
"Yes?"  
  
"What's going to happen to us?"  
  
"I don't know," he lied. He knew. He was going to die, and probably so would Nadira. His mother had been working with The Mistress, whoever she was, and Ransik had betrayed her; and Ransik had said it himself, 'The Mistress always knows, she knows everything'.  
  
"Are you afraid?" she asked him, not sure if he was going to answer.  
  
He looked at her and gave her a sympathetic smile; after all, she was just a girl. "Very much, are you?"  
  
"Yes, very much as well."  
  
Alex looked at her for a few moments, thinking of a way to soothe her. He had an idea. "Do you have a god? The mutants, I mean."  
  
"We don't," she admitted. "Religion and violence don't mix very well, I guess."  
  
"They do," Alex corrected. "The result is called a Holy War."  
  
"Really?"  
  
"Yes," he said. "Nadira, when you belong to a group, specially a group so perturbed and driven to violence like the mutants, a god is the best you can have, a god that gives you hope for better times to come."  
  
She smiled. "So, do you have a god?"  
  
"We have many gods, around the world there are many religions and many gods, but in the end it's all the same, it's just hope, hope for a better time, hope that there's someone more powerful than we are that can pull us out of the holes we put ourselves into."  
  
"What do you do when you have a god?"  
  
"You pray," he said. "Here, I'll teach you how to do it" He moved closer to her.  
  
**********  
  
Jen hid inside of a warehouse. She hid behind some boxes and stayed there, thinking. Should she go back to her own mind? Or should she try to get more out of this mutant? She chose the latter, if what Ransik had told her was the truth, then all she needed to find was the lab, and destroy it. She didn't want anybody to know the true identity of The Mistress; it wasn't worth the pain it would cause.  
  
She heard the mutant's illusory footsteps near her and she jumped out of her hiding place, kicking him hard on the back before landing perfectly on the other side of the small corridor created between the boxes.  
  
The mutant stumbled and fell face first, hitting himself hard against the floor. He turned around, and saw Jen over him, her Chrono saber pressed against his throat. She used her mental control power, which now was strong and perfect, on it.  
  
You are going to tell me the truth from now on, only the truth, everything you know, even what you don't know you know, she ordered him.  
  
"Where is the lab where you were created?" she asked. The mutant looked away. She kicked him in the ribs; it hurt her, because he still looked like Alex. "Where is it?!"  
  
"We are there," the mutants said smiling. "This is the lab."  
  
"How can this be the lab? This is a warehouse."  
  
"Not if you know which box to move," he said.  
  
"Which box should I move?" Jen asked. The mutant was about to answer, when Jen felt the familiar pulling, and the vertigo of falling into nothingness.  
  
She woke up, before she could discover the truth.  
  
**************************  
  
Jen stirred, slowly opening her eyes. Katie held her hand anxiously. The doctors must have used a drug to wake her up, because she felt pretty bad.  
  
"Jen!" she heard someone say. It was Katie. "Are you okay?"  
  
"No," she said. "I was about to get somewhere important."  
  
"Were you attacked inside your mind again?"  
  
"Yes," she said. "But it wasn't Catgat, it was someone else, stronger, but not strong enough."  
  
"What was it about to tell you?"  
  
"The location of The Mistress's lab," she said angrily. She looked around. "Where's Alex?" Katie looked away from her, and Jen grasped her hand. "Where's Alex?"  
  
"He was taken, along with Nadira," Katie admitted. Jen looked past her, her eyes filled with tears.  
  
"She took him from me in my dreams," she whispered. "And now she's taking him from me again, in reality." A sudden fire lit up her eyes. "NOBODY takes the same thing twice from me! NOBODY!!" she yelled, getting up from the bed and storming out of the room, leaving a mess of tables and chairs that flew towards the walls, and a shower of glass bits, from the fluorescent bulbs on the ceiling that exploded, as she passed by them.  
  
"Now what?" Lucas asked Katie, after he walked out to the corridor with her. "I think she knows where she's going, and we better follow her, before she does something stupid," she answered.  
  
"How do we follow her?" Trip asked, putting on his Time Force jacket.  
  
"It won't be too hard; we'll just have to follow the trail of destruction she's leaving."  
  
"Hell hath no fury," Lucas started.  
  
"Like Jen when you've taken what's hers," Katie completed, more accurately.  
  
*************  
  
Alex and Nadira heard footsteps above them. They looked up and saw a muscular mutant standing next to a woman in a mask. "Bring them up," the woman said.  
  
The mutant lowered a staircase inside the cell and pointed at them both with his laser. "Come up!" he ordered.  
  
They did as they were told, and when they got out, they were brought to the middle of a large, dimly lit room, their hands and feet were tied down to a pair of chairs. They looked around silently, trying to figure out where they were. It was a warehouse.  
  
"Where are we?" Alex asked.  
  
"Welcome to my accommodations, General Drake," he heard the woman in the mask say. Her voice was oddly familiar. "I think you won't find this very comfortable, but it shouldn't take too long before it's time to leave."  
  
"Why do you want me? What did my mother do to you?"  
  
"Your mother has a huge bill to pay, but not to me," she answered. "On the other hand, you and your beautiful trainee, Jennifer Scotts, have gotten in my way too many times."  
  
"Gotten in your way? We didn't even know you existed!" Alex said.  
  
"And that's how it should have stayed forever!" she answered. "But I can't risk having Jen around, with her psychic powers, now that she knows I exist. She might discover who I am, I heard her powers are stronger than I expected."  
  
"They are stronger than any human's."  
  
"You seem proud of it."  
  
"I am," he said. "Because not only did she learn how to control them, she escaped the horrible destiny most psychic humans suffer from, she decided to stay awake and fight, instead of going to sleep mad," he told her.  
  
The woman in the mask, who obviously was the world famous Mistress stood tall, as if indignant at his pride. Nadira started sniffling next to him; the woman looked so dangerous.  
  
"She's going to kill us," she whispered. The woman on the mask turned to Nadira and ran to her, drying her tears.  
  
"No, no, no dear, don't cry!" she soothed her, drying Nadira's tears with her hand. She ran her fingers through the pink hair. "It's okay, my dear baby, it's okay, I'm not going to hurt you," she promised. "How can hurt my most beautiful creation, the most perfect thing I have ever made. You are the most human-looking mutant ever engineered in a lab, and to think I had to give you away, because they were after you, to destroy you."  
  
"Who was after her? Who wanted to destroy her?" Alex asked.  
  
The Mistress turned to him. "You are very good work yourself, not as important as Nadira, but good enough," she told him, caressing his hair as well. Then she walked towards a box, and returned to them, holding something in her hands. "They," she told Alex showing him a printed picture of the group of scientists that had worked on that project; the grandparents of the dead children. "They were the ones who were after Nadira; they wanted to destroy her, because she was too perfect for them."  
  
"Why did you take their grandchildren?"  
  
"Because their children were too big!" she yelled. "It took me years to recover from the blow they gave me, and when I was finally ready to have my revenge, their children were too old, my mutants can't digest adult flesh, it's too heavy!" She explained it as if it was a very normal thing; as if she was nothing but a mother explaining why she fed her children with vegetables instead of meat.  
  
"Then why take us?" Alex asked. "If your mutants can't digest us, then--"  
  
"You are not here to be eaten!" she said at last. "You are bait! I want to attract two more people with you, and I have ways to make it work!"  
  
"You want my mother to come here?" Alex asked.  
  
The answer was a sigh of annoyance. "Would you forget about your mother? This isn't about your mother anymore, this is about your girlfriend," The Mistress explained, with anger and annoyance in equal amounts. "This is about her father," she said, pointing at Nadira, "and your girlfriend! If she had stayed away from you like I told her to -- that farm girl! She wouldn't be in this predicament."  
  
Those words crashed against Alex's ears like juggernauts. That farm girl. There was only one person he knew that had ever called Jen a "farm girl". He slowly raised his eyes to the woman in the mask, the back of his eyes stinging with tears of disappointment.  
  
He looked at her, his mouth slightly open in surprise, his lower lip trembling. It couldn't be; it had to be a coincidence, it had to be a lie. He refused to believe the woman. No! It couldn't be; it just couldn't be. He had to be sure, a hundred percent sure that it wasn't true. It was just impossible, more than that, it was unconceivable.  
  
He swallowed hard and whispered, almost scared, "Mom?"  
  
To be continued. 


	20. chapter 20

Chapter 20.  
  
Jen ran down the street, her anger leading the way. She left behind her a trail that was easy to follow: a blackout. There had been no blackouts in that city for about twenty years, but lights were turning off on both sides of the street as Jen ran through it.  
  
When she had run quite far from the hospital, her legs gave away and she found herself kneeling, taking deep breaths, tired like she had never been.  
  
Alex, honey, where are you? She asked in her mind, helplessly. The thought returned to her, repeated, like an echo. She tried again, with the same results.  
  
How am I going to find you, if I can't see what you are seeing? Alex, she called. Alex! Alex!! Alex!!! ALEX!!!!  
  
The thoughts came back to her, as if they bounced and echoed back. She kneeled there, crying, she felt helpless, she didn't know what it was, it had never happened before. She was beginning to lose hope, when suddenly, among all the echoes of her own thoughts, she heard him.  
  
Jennifer? It was a soft whisper. He had heard her calling, as if she was calling him aloud. Jennifer, is that you?  
  
Yes, Alex, it's me. Again, her thoughts bounced back to her, but though she knew she had to listen more attentively, she held the hope Alex might be listening to her.  
  
I love you, Jennifer. No matter what, I love you and I trust you.  
  
She rose back to her feet when she heard his words. She dried her tears and looked forward, focusing hard. Don't worry, Alex. I'm on my way. She felt a sudden outburst of anger that was too much for her.  
  
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRG!!!!" she yelled, and the entire city went dark in one second.  
  
*****************************  
  
The warehouse became completely dark suddenly. Nothing could be seen, not even silhouettes.  
  
"Alex?" Nadira called.  
  
"I'm still here," he said.  
  
"What happened?" demanded The Mistress.  
  
"There's a blackout, the entire city is dark," said Tatag.  
  
"What do you mean there's a blackout, Tatag? There hasn't been a blackout in this city in 20 years!!"  
  
"Well, the power from the entire city is gone, the electric plant just shut off, ours too," he said.  
  
"What's the status of the lab?"  
  
"We can resist for about ten minutes, but no more."  
  
"Ten minutes?" she repeated angrily. "Go to the power plant, and fix it!" she ordered.  
  
"It won't work," Alex said into the dark.  
  
"What do you mean it won't work?" the mistress asked him, her voice coming from the most perfect darkness, carrying her anger.  
  
"This isn't a regular blackout," he explained. "It's Jennifer."  
  
"No human can do this! No mutant can do this! She can't be powerful enough to do this!!"  
  
"She can. She's mad, and she's on her way here."  
  
"How can you tell?"  
  
"I can feel her. She's angry, she doesn't like it when people take what's hers; and I know she's on her way here."  
  
"How do you know?"  
  
"I just do," he said.  
  
"I don't believe this."  
  
"Too bad, because she's on her way here to destroy you. She wants nothing but to destroy you, you and all your mutants."  
  
"How can she know where we are?" The Mistress was sounding scared now.  
  
"She always knows where I am, always. She can feel my heart beating for her, no matter how far."  
  
"Why?"  
  
"Because she loves me," Alex said defiantly. "And I love her,"  
  
He felt suddenly strong, and safe. Jen had called out for him, he had answered, and she had told him she was on her way. When she got there, she would free him, and together they would end The Mistress's reign of terror.  
  
"Tatag, prepare for her imminent arrival, you know where you can find me," The Mistress ordered, and they heard footsteps, followed by the sound of something huge and metallic being slid open. A door.  
  
Then more footsteps. Then more metallic sounds (another door) and then something that made their hearts stop for a second. Heavy breathing followed closely by a soft growling. The growling grew until it became a roar, and Alex heard Nadira scream, before he was sent, with chair and all, against a wall and hit it hard.  
  
He lay there, breathing fast, feeling a pain in his chest, one or more of his ribs broken. He sensed more than heard, the creature walking towards him. A paw pressed on his forehead, forcing his head up, while a smelly snout sniffed his face. It smelled like rotten flesh, and the paw was clawed, he knew because he felt the claws penetrate his scalp, while the paw pulled his hair and his face up.  
  
His hair was released, and for a split second Alex thought the monster was going towards Nadira. But he felt a pain, increased by the surprise provoked by the claws as they scratched across his chest, his jacket and shirt not being protection enough. The monster scratched him several times; his clothes fell in rags leaving his skin completely open to the attack. Some of the scratches were deep, blood beginning to run down his chest, touching the torn skin with a feathery contact.  
  
"Jennifer," he called into the darkness, his body in such pain, he could barely resist it. "I love you," he whispered, focusing hard and praying in his mind she would hear him. He felt the paw hit across his chin, and knew no more.  
  
***********************  
  
Jen entered the warehouse district, knowing exactly towards which building to go, the very last, at the top of the hill.  
  
She saw a motorcycle parked by a bar, and turned it on with her mind. Alex was in danger, he was hurt and she had to save him quickly. He was in pain. She moved towards the motorcycle, and got into it, but she was forced to stop, by a dark figure that stood in the middle of the street.  
  
"What do you want?" she asked.  
  
"To help you," answered the figure.  
  
"No, it's too dangerous," she said.  
  
"She's my daughter, Time Ranger," he warned. "By your side or by myself I will rescue her."  
  
"Do as you please," she said, taking the brakes off the bike. "But stay out of my way," she warned and sped towards the hill, ignoring his yell behind her.  
  
"You better stay out of MY way!!"  
  
She accelerated; she couldn't bring him or wait for him. She had her own plan to follow, and he didn't fit anywhere in it.  
  
***************************  
  
"What do we do now?" Lucas asked, as he, Katie and Trip saw themselves forced to stop, the darkness had engulfed the entire city, and they couldn't follow Jen if they couldn't see her.  
  
"We have one more way," Trip said, and pulled Circuit out of his backpack. "When she morphs, we'll be able to find her."  
  
"What if she doesn't morph?" Katie asked.  
  
"She will," Trip said certainly.  
  
"How do you know?"  
  
"She's got no choice. This is much bigger than she is."  
  
***********************  
  
The door of the warehouse burst open, as if by an explosion. It made a metallic noise that echoed in the warehouse walls. A single ray of light; that came from the motorcycle parked outside, filled the room with light. A small dark figure was cut from the white square looking menacing and dangerous.  
  
She was standing there, both of her arms ending in guns, instead of hands. Taking a few steps inside, she looked around. "Alex?" she called. She heard a soft groaning to her right and turned. "Alex, is that you?" she asked. She walked towards the groaning, leaving the ray of light. "Alex?" she asked again.  
  
Suddenly, the doors closed with the same noise with which they had opened. The warehouse was completely dark again, and Jen was completely alone. Or so she wished. She heard it walk around her, with its heavy breathing, its growling, its knuckles dragged on the floor. She could smell its snout, its breath; it was circling around her, trying to frighten her. And it was doing one hell of a job.  
  
Jen knew she only had one chance, and that it was bringing the lights back. She closed her eyes, and tried to do it, but she kept getting distracted by the growling and the roaring around her. She felt its hungry stare; she could almost hear it salivate in anticipation. This wasn't a mutant, not the kind of mutants she had fought before.  
  
Those mutants were criminals, intelligent, refined and proud. This was a beast, a mere beast trained to hurt and kill. This was a beast that felt no fear, an agile beast, strong and powerful, without all those other things that made mutants laughable inside the deep confines on her mind.  
  
This beast was raw and dangerous, nothing laughable. She unwillingly connected to him, and saw everything that beast had seen in rapid succession of images that made her dizzy, filling her with sudden disgust, not only towards it, but towards those who had created it.  
  
She felt like she was going to be sick. This had been the mutant that had been eating the children, it hadn't been any Hannibal Lecter's mutant version having a refined dinner, it had eaten them raw, and (it was hard to believe a human being would allow this to happen) alive.  
  
She couldn't hold it anymore, she was sick. She threw up in disgust, in fear, in anger and in many other things she couldn't recognize at the moment. She was certain this beast was trained to kill her. Not just hurt her, kill her.  
  
Her mind was taken over by panic and Jennifer Scotts, Captain in Time Force, Pink Time Force Ranger and Alexander Drake's fiancée and protégée, crouched into a ball on the floor and started crying like a baby girl in the dark.  
  
"I'm going to die," she told herself. "I'm going to die tonight, because there's nobody to save me and I can't fight this beast myself, if I do, I'll die, just like Mom did, when she fought that wolf," she whimpered, remembering one of the most tragic nights of her childhood.  
  
One so tragic, it had taken her years to forget.  
  
One night that was repeating itself.  
  
To be continued. 


	21. Chapter 21

Chapter 21  
  
The beast grabbed Jen by the neck and threw her against some boxes. She hit them hard and fell to the floor, hitting her nose. She couldn't see anything at all, and all of her other senses were numb with panic.  
  
She wasn't really living that night. She was reliving another night, many years ago; many years before she became a Time Force officer, many years before she even became a woman.  
  
Her mother and she had been in their stable, watching over a mare that was about to give birth to her first colt. Jen had been eight years old, and her mother was teaching her how to help the mare, that seemed to be in a lot of pain. Her father wasn't with them, he had gone to town looking for the vet; instead the chief stable hand was there.  
  
The door was open, because it was summer and it was very hot inside the stable. All three of them had been distracted with the mare, and didn't see it walking inside. It was another horse that noticed it first; a fully grown male wolf, with drool oozing out of his huge snout, showing all of his teeth as he growled, warning them, telling them to get away, to get out.  
  
Her mother had screamed and had wrapped her arms around her. "Go, Jenny, hide upstairs in the straw loft and stay there until I call you back, okay?" she had told her. Jen had nodded and done as she was told.  
  
The man, his name was William, had grabbed a stick and was menacing the wolf with it. The animal howled, and his calls were answered. "Christine, you and Jenny need to get out of here, now," he had said. "There are more of them on the way."  
  
"Where's the gun, Will?" Her mother asked. Jen couldn't see her, but she could hear them talking.  
  
"It's in the henhouse; these monsters have been trying to eat some of the chickens."  
  
"Then I have to go and get it, and bring it here, it's the only way."  
  
"No, Chris, it's too dangerous, I'll go."  
  
"No, stay here and protect Jennifer, I'll be back in a few minutes."  
  
"You stay with her, there's more of them on the way, and the colt is about to be born, you can take better care of the mare than me."  
  
"Yeah, but--"  
  
"Listen, Chris, lock yourself in with the mare, and I'll be right back."  
  
Jen heard the wolf howl again and she didn't hear the mare's cubicle lock snap. "Mommy?" she called. There was no answer. She heard shooting, from outside the stable.  
  
Then Will's voice, calling her mother. "Chris!! Run!! It's the whole pack! Take Jen and run!" But there was no answer. Jen didn't hear her mother call her down, or trying to get to her. She stayed there, crouched behind some straw, praying for her mommy and calling for her daddy.  
  
"Jenny? Jenny?" she heard Will call her. "Chris?" and that was followed by a surprised yell, and growling. Growling and roaring, and some gurgling noises that had stayed in her nightmares forever.  
  
She stayed there, for what seemed like hours. She hadn't opened her eyes, or peeked down, until she heard her father's jeep coming, and heard him walk towards the stable. She didn't hear her father say anything, but she heard the shooting and the cursing.  
  
"Monsters!! Beasts!! Demons!!" he had yelled. "Bastards!! Damn you all to hell!!!" he had kept on cursing and shooting, and Jen heard it all, until she couldn't take it anymore and she yelled.  
  
"Jenny!!" Her father called and he climbed the stairs and hugged her tightly. "My baby. My baby Jenny, are you okay?"  
  
"Is Mommy okay?"  
  
"Yes, honey, she's better than any of us now," he said sadly.  
  
"What happened to the mare and the colt?"  
  
"The wolves killed them."  
  
"And what about Will and Mommy?"  
  
"Aw, Jenny," her father had said, and he had started to cry. She had only been eight years old; she hugged her daddy as tight as her arms could and cried on his chest. Her mother's body lay downstairs, next to the remains of the mare and the colt. It was an image that haunted her for years. It haunted her so much, she started to tell everybody her mother had died of a disease, and she had started to believe it.  
  
***********  
  
Jen tasted blood. It came from her own body.  
  
Reliving that traumatic night of her childhood had distracted her from the reality, and the beast had been attacking her whenever it could find her in the dark. She felt its paws around her arms and it threw her across the room again. She landed next to something warm.  
  
"Alex?" she asked. She touched it, it was warm and it moved up and down. It had to be a chest.  
  
"Jen?" he asked her. She made a happy sound, not really loud or strong because she was in too much pain. She looked for his face, running her hand up his chest, and she could feel all the cuts on it.  
  
"Baby, what happened to you?"  
  
"There's a monster, a beast, look out," he warned her.  
  
"I know," she told him. "And I can't fight him. He's too strong for me, I'm sorry Alex, I can't win this fight. I just can't."  
  
"You can," he told her with certainty.  
  
"No, I can't," she repeated, and sent him all the memories she held from the night of the wolves. "She couldn't win, and I can't win either."  
  
"You are not her," he said. "You are stronger, you are more powerful and you have defeated much more than this beast. You have been in a lot more fights than your mother, and I trust you. I know you can win this."  
  
"I'm sorry to let you down Alex. I love you," she said with a broken voice.  
  
"Are you lying down on the floor?" he asked.  
  
"Yes."  
  
"What for?"  
  
"I'm just waiting."  
  
"Waiting for what?"  
  
"For death to get me," she said, and she heard the beast's steps next to her. It picked her up and Jen closed her eyes, waiting for the final blow, for the final crash, but it didn't come.  
  
Instead there was a flash of light, the beast growled in pain and let her fall to the floor, right next to Alex again.  
  
"Jennifer," he told her.  
  
"Yes?"  
  
"Aim," he said simply. She smiled, more mentally than physically; that was the first thing he had ever taught her, to aim.  
  
She used to shoot too fast and she missed all the shots because she didn't give herself time to aim. The first time they had ever practiced together he had looked at her in the eye and said, 'Aim first.'  
  
"Aim for what?"  
  
"For the lights."  
  
Jen closed her eyes and followed mentally all the high voltage cables of the city. It wasn't easy, because the fight sounds, and the constant energy balls and explosions kept distracting her.  
  
"Nadira?!!" she heard her hero call. It was very ironic that the one mutant she had wanted to kill for such a long time had ended up saving her life. "Nadira?!"  
  
Jen got to the energy plant and released the hold she had on it. The warehouse was suddenly filled with light, and she could see the beast that had been hitting her. Nothing out of this world in the matter of beasts, but it had scared her in the dark. She looked around and saw Alex lying on the floor. She put both hands against her mouth when she finally got sight of his status. He was covered in red gashes and blood, his face showing bruises and cuts.  
  
"Alex," she whispered sadly. She touched his face softly and he whimpered.  
  
"Time Ranger, look out!!" Ransik yelled. She turned around and saw the monster coming at her, ready to grab her neck for the final blow.  
  
"Not this time!" she yelled, and rolled to the side. "Maybe before, I was willing to let you win, the darkness and panic had me controlled - but Alex is right," she told the beast as she got up slowly, the beast staring at her with its little watery black eyes gleaming with anger. It didn't seem to like it when its prey ran. "I am not my mother, and you are not a wolf." The beast took deep breaths, preparing to charge against her.  
  
"And you won't have the pleasure of killing me!! I won't let you have it!!" she yelled. The beast ran to her, as if to prove her wrong, but Jen was readier than she seemed. "Time for, Time Force!!" she called, and the pink Time Force ranger armor covered her.  
  
For the first time she really felt the good morphing brought. It felt as if she had grown a new skin. She felt completely healed and clear. When the beast got to her, she was waiting for it, and kicked it in the chest, sending him to the floor. "Your time is up!" She summoned her V weapon, and aimed. "It's time for you to pay for what you've done!" she pulled the trigger and the blast hit the beast right between the eyes.  
  
It fell on its back, completely lifeless. Jen breathed hard. It was the first time she had killed. It had been a murderous beast, but she hadn't been trained to kill, and it felt bad. She demorphed and walked towards Alex, kneeling next to him.  
  
"Well done," he whispered. She smiled and caressed his hair.  
  
"I'll call for reinforcements, you are going to be okay, baby," she assured him. Alex closed his eyes and his face fell to the side. His blood loss was considerable. Jen raised her morpher. "This is Captain Jennifer Scotts, I'm at the warehouse district, inside the large one at the top of the hill, I can't give a better direction," she called.  
  
"What do you need, officer?" she heard a woman ask.  
  
"Paramedics, I have a man down."  
  
"And three to go," said a voice behind her. She turned around and saw Lucas, Katie and Trip standing on the door. Trip was holding a first aid kit in his hand. Jen smiled.  
  
"You're always right on time, with the right thing," she said.  
  
"That the reason we like to call ourselves a team," Katie commented. "We'll take care of Alex. You have other things to do."  
  
Jen nodded and stood up from where she was kneeling. She looked around; Ransik was nowhere to be seen, not him, nor Nadira. "Ransik?" she called him, walking in the direction she had heard his voice when he had warned her. "Ransik?" she called again. She kept walking and made a wonderful discovery.  
  
A hidden door that led somewhere underground. It seemed Ransik had moved the right box.  
  
To be continued. 


	22. Chapter 22

Chapter 22  
  
Jen stepped through the door, and walked down the spiral stairs, that were made of steel. The handrail was cold and the light was dim, bluish. She felt like she was underwater, instead of underground, everything was so silent, she could hear herself breath. She stopped at the foot of the stairs, finally hearing something; a discussion between two familiar voices.  
  
"She's my daughter, Samantha, and there is nothing you can do now to change that!"  
  
"No, Ransik, she is my daughter, I let you have her all these years because I couldn't take care of her, but now I can, and I need her, so I'm claiming her."  
  
"You can't claim her! Besides she would never do anything you want! She's not evil like you are!"  
  
"I am not evil, I just have different ideas!"  
  
"Get her out of that container now!" Ransik demanded loudly.  
  
"Why would I do that? Why are you fighting me, Ransik? We are on the same side! You know how I feel about you!"  
  
"You feel nothing about anyone!" he answered. "I refuse to play your game any longer!"  
  
"Well, I am sorry to hear you say that, honey," she said.  
  
"Get Nadira out of that container!"  
  
"I won't," The woman said.  
  
Suddenly, the container where Nadira was, a large crystal tank filled with water, exploded. The explosion originated a chain reaction that made the other tanks that contained various mutants explode. Some of those mutants looked almost human, other looked dangerous; others weak and some others were just plain ugly.  
  
"My babies!" The Mistress yelled and looked towards the stairs.  
  
"My buddy here asked you to release his daughter," Jen said in a toneless voice.  
  
"How dare you enter here? You are not worthy of entering my lab!"  
  
'Shut up!' Jen ordered mentally and she did.  
  
The mutants began to stir, and some of them, coincidentally the most dangerous looking ones, got to their feet. "I bet you wish you hadn't made all those tanks explode now," The mistress said.  
  
Jen smiled evilly. "Why would I?" she asked. "I came here to destroy you all, and that's what I'm going to do."  
  
The Mistress chuckled. "All by yourself? I'd like to see you try it!" she mocked.  
  
Jen shrugged, and turned around, walking towards the stairs. 'Come and get me,' she ordered the mutants that were awake as she climbed the stairs. She got out of the hidden door and into the warehouse. She still had a few seconds to study her surroundings and make a plan.  
  
"Jen? Is everything alright?" Lucas asked.  
  
"Go," she said simply, adding a mental order to her words. "Get Alex out of here, and leave!"  
  
She didn't like what she was going to do, but she had no choice. If she froze these mutants, if she let them get away or escape, then The Mistress would gather them all again and attack in almost no time. If she wanted to stop her, she was going to have to break the rules of the Time Force and kill these mutants.  
  
The others took Alex outside and Jen closed the door just in time, because the mutants started to pour out of the hidden door right at that moment. She focused all her mind on them, so she could attack them more than one at a time. She sent a weak looking one flying against some tubes and heard its skull crush.  
  
She then wrapped some chains that hung from the ceiling around the throats of two strong looking ones and strangled them, while she fought physically to keep the others away from her.  
  
She crushed a couple of human looking ones with some really heavy boxes it took her a lot of focus to move. Again she heard the bones crush. She knew those sounds were going to stay in her nightmares, like the noises the wolves made. She hit three of them with a giant hook used to lift the boxes. They crashed against the walls.  
  
Soon Jen realized there were too many of them, there were more than she had expected and they grew stronger, as she grew weaker. She had a headache. She had never used her power for so long and with such strength. She was tired and hurt and the mutants were just too many.  
  
******************  
  
The Mistress grabbed two syringes from a cabinet and approached Ransik from behind. He was distracted, waking Nadira up, and checking if she was okay.  
  
"I'm sorry we had to do this the hard way, Ransik, my dear," she whispered, and plunged the needle deep into Ransik's neck.  
  
He was stunned for a few seconds, during which time the woman injected Nadira. Then she approached the main computer and started to run a program.  
  
"Come, we have to get out of here," she ordered Nadira and Ransik, who followed her. "It will be a fresh start for us."  
  
********************  
  
Just when Jen was about to give up, she received a thought. I have to get out of here, before the whole place blows up. It came from The Mistress.  
  
The lab was in self-destruct mode and she was escaping through a back door. Jen ran to the door and opened it, holding the mutants back with her mind control powers and got out, bolting the door behind her. She had barely gotten a few feet away from the building, when it blew up, killing all the mutants inside, turning them into a giant fireball.  
  
For a few seconds, she and the other rangers were stunned, looking at the flames.  
  
********************  
  
The Mistress looked at the fire, tears filling her eyes. "One of these days, Jennifer Scotts, One of these days."  
  
*******************  
  
Jen snapped back to reality and ran towards the back of the building, focusing on The Mistress, trying to stop her.  
  
Alex, now completely healed by his friends, ran behind her. "Jen, wait up!" he called her.  
  
"Alex, go back," she said. "This will get messy; I don't want you to."  
  
"I know who she is," he said simply, looking into Jen's eyes. "I want to stop her as much as you do."  
  
"So do we," called Katie who had run after Alex, followed by Trip and Lucas. Jen nodded to them all and they ran side by side, meeting The Mistress when she was getting into a car. Jen forced her away from it.  
  
"What else do you want?" The Mistress asked tiredly. "You have already killed all my children."  
  
"I want to bring you to justice," Jen said.  
  
"And I want answers," Alex said. "Mom."  
  
"What was that?" The Mistress asked.  
  
"I know it's you," he said. "Nobody but you has ever called Jen farm girl."  
  
"She does come from a farm, doesn't she? It's not really that hard to figure out what to call her," The Mistress answered hurriedly.  
  
"Mom, I know it's you," he said simply. "Tell me, why are you doing this?"  
  
"Doing what?" she asked. "I am not your mother," she insisted.  
  
Alex blinked slowly, and then looked at her, his face expressionless. "Mom, what did she do to you? Why do you hate her so much?"  
  
"She.She." She seemed to be straining to come up with an answer. "Alexander," she finally said, admitting her true identity. "I had so many plans for you, you are one of my most beautiful creations, how could you think I would let you mix such perfect DNA with the DNA of that farm girl, with God knows what failures in her genes?"  
  
"You don't like her because she wasn't engineered?"  
  
"OF COURSE!!" the woman said. "Alexander, I'm a genetics engineer, I appreciate perfected DNA, and I hope my children marry people as well designed and perfect as they are," she explained.  
  
"I can't believe this," Alex said sadly.  
  
"Is what Ransik told me true?" Jen asked softly. "That you sent Nadira to him with Tatag, because you didn't want anybody to know..."  
  
"Yes," she admitted. "I did, because it was a dangerous procedure, and many people were after her, and after her father, among them my own husband and my own child. Oh, if only Nadira knew all the plans I had for her."  
  
"What plans? Selling her story to the newspapers?" she asked bitterly.  
  
"Newspapers? No, if I hadn't trusted the wrong person, nobody would have known that Nadira was a mutant for many, many years. I wanted to raise her myself, with her brother," she said, pointing at Alex. "I wanted to be a mother for her, a true mother, and give her a true family away from her father and his crimes, away from the prejudices that exist towards mutants. I wanted her to be the daughter my husband never gave me."  
  
"Because you always told him you wanted a boy," Alex said bitterly, his cheek showing the trail of a single bitter tear that had ran down it.  
  
"Alexander," The Mistress said, drying his cheek. "Don't be jealous now, it's not proper for a gentleman."  
  
"I'm not jealous," he said, his voice showing how he felt. "I'm just hurt. You lied to me for such a long time."  
  
"And she's not done, yet," Jen said, her gaze lost into The Mistress's gaze. "Aren't you going to tell him the truth about you and Ransik?"  
  
"What about her and Ransik?" Alex asked.  
  
"He was my lover," The Mistress admitted. "Nadira is my daughter, from the mutant point of view, and from the human point of view."  
  
"You cheated on Dad with Ransik? How could you?"  
  
"Like I said, I appreciate good DNA, and Ransik is one of the most perfect mutants ever created, he is so powerful, and he was so gorgeous."  
  
"Gorgeous?" Katie asked.  
  
"He was, when he was first created," The Mistress explained. "He was incredibly handsome, but he was too powerful and too unstable, his DNA didn't hold tight for very long and began to react. The result was the monster you had to fight."  
  
"So, powerful and cute don't mix?"  
  
"Didn't mix by the time Ransik was created. They do now."  
  
"Really?" Alex asked.  
  
"Yes, Nadira is a great example of that."  
  
"Nadira?" Lucas asked. They all looked at The Mistress with disbelief. Nadira was one of the weakest mutants they had ever met.  
  
"Yes, you have never met the real Nadira, the true Nadira with all her power unlocked."  
  
"And something tells me we don't want to," Lucas said.  
  
"Why would you?" The Mistress asked. Suddenly, the Rangers heard a blast and fell face first to the floor, when it hit them from behind. Ransik walked towards The Mistress from behind the Rangers and stood next to her. Nadira was walking behind Ransik, and turned towards the Rangers, her eyes black, and lifeless.  
  
She raised her hand and her nails grew to the size of swords as they always did, but this time they glowed pink, brightly. She swung her hand towards them and a blast of energy made its way towards them. It took all of Jen's focus to change its route and make it hit the burning building, provoking another explosion.  
  
Ransik and Nadira got into the car, and The Mistress followed them. Ransik tried to start the car but he couldn't. He tried several times and failed.  
  
"What's going on?" The Mistress asked.  
  
You are not going anywhere, Jen told her mentally.  
  
"What?" The Mistress asked in disbelief, looking at the woman lying on the floor, barely breathing. "This has got to be a joke."  
  
It's not a joke, Jen assured her, lifting the car from the floor. You have done many horrible things, and you have to pay for them.  
  
"This is impossible, you can't be this powerful!" The fear escaped her through her voice. She breathed hard and looked around, at Ransik and Nadira, looking for answers.  
  
What's wrong? The almighty Mistress is afraid of a simple, insignificant farm girl? Jen asked, her voice tainted with bitter mockery. I don't believe it!  
  
"That's enough!" The Mistress said. "Kill her!!" she ordered Ransik, and he nodded. He pointed at her and shot an energy ball that hit the building.  
  
"What the hell is wrong with you?"  
  
Are you ready to pay for all the abominations you have done in your life?  
  
"Not yet!" was her answer, and a single gunshot was heard above the roar of the flames. The car fell to the ground, started and sped away. The Mistress had escaped.  
  
*******************  
  
The reinforcements Time Force had sent and the firemen got to the scene and found all five Rangers lying on the ground unconscious. Jennifer Scotts had a gunshot wound in her back, and was bleeding considerably, so she was the first one the paramedics took to the hospital. Her chances of surviving were lower than the rest.  
  
"Hang on tight, Captain, you'll be alright," one of the paramedics told her.  
  
*******************  
  
Jen stood by the beach, looking at the ocean. She felt a pair of strong arms wrap around her.  
  
"What's on your mind?" Alex asked her, whispering the words directly in her ear.  
  
"She escaped. I let her get away," she answered.  
  
"You did everything you could," he told her, holding her hand tight.  
  
"I guess all we have to do now is plan the wedding, and hope she doesn't come back."  
  
"What will happen if she does?"  
  
"We'll get her."  
  
"What happens if we can't?" he asked further.  
  
"Who cares?" she answered, turning to kiss him. "The only thing that matters is that in the end, we are together. She lost, because she couldn't keep us apart."  
  
"That's right" he said, smiling. He looked at the ocean, his eyes reflecting the movement of the waves. "From now on, it's you and me."  
  
"Forever," she completed, smiling.  
  
*******************  
  
"Do you think she will come back?" Katie asked Alex.  
  
"As soon as she can, she will," he answered.  
  
"I wasn't talking about The Mistress," she said.  
  
"Neither was I."  
  
The End. 


	23. Epilogue

Epilogue  
  
Wesley Collins walked into his office for his first day as chairman of Bio- lab. His father had died two weeks ago of a heart attack, the same day Alex had told him he would die, only one year later.  
  
He sat at his desk and began to check the first profit and sales report he was going to read in his life. The first of countless, he was sure of that.  
  
His secretary beeped him through the intercom.  
  
"Yes?"  
  
"Mister Collins, Ms. Jessica Smith, your vice-president, is here."  
  
"Send her in," he said.  
  
The door of his office opened and Wes's jaw dropped. It was Jen, with red hair wound up in an elegant bun, bright green eyes and dressed in a perfectly cut gray business suit. She walked with authority and had a serious face. She presented him her hand.  
  
"Nice to meet you, Mister Collins, I'm sorry about your father, I'm your new vice-president, Jessica Smith," she said. Wes didn't react. He didn't take her hand. He had barely heard what she had said. She talked fast but her every word could be understood  
  
"Jen?" he asked stunned.  
  
"Jess," she corrected. "Jessica Smith."  
  
Wes smiled. And shook her hand. He felt weird, lightheaded. So this was his Jen. The Jen meant to be with him. No. Her name was Jessica, and as she sat down in front of him, pulling some papers out of her briefcase, he had the feeling it was the beginning of something very special.  
  
He was right. And he was wrong at the same time. 


End file.
